Return to the Rabbit Hole
by Kuroberri
Summary: Tiffany Lyraine certainly didn't expect she would be kidnapped her first day away from home, but it might just be the push she needs to give herself and Wonderland hope. How can this Alice knock-off possibly keep her head when everyone is telling her what she should think? Even worse, how can will she react when her most recent heart breaker joins her in Wonderland?
1. Chapter 1

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter One

We'd only been at this house for a few hours and I was already bored. Yeah, it was old and had oodles of cupboards and crawlspaces, but it wasn't like they were going to be running away from me. After all, I was going to be stuck living here. Besides, my brother had already begun sifting through the dust in this house for a chance to find good spots to hide all the Airsoft guns he had brought without my mum's permission. It was probably going to be days before he would trust me enough not to tell my mom where he had hidden his stash.

I flopped on to the creaky, old mattress that was supposed to be my bed, only to be consumed by a cloud of dust. I slid on to the floor, swatting away the haze and coughing. I couldn't deal with this kind of stuff today. I needed something to do. Maybe I could plan a way back home from here.

As if on cue, I heard footsteps approaching my room. My mom poked her head into the room. Her usual straightened blonde hair had curled with the humidity of summer. She looked flushed from unloading the boxes with the movers. Through muted pants, she suggested, "Honey, why don't you entertain yourself?"

"I will," I paused, "later."

She sighed and tried her hardest to level with me, "Tiff, what could you possibly have to do right now aside from unpacking and exploring?"

"Going home," I stated plainly. There wasn't anything in this house that was worth staying for. I'm sure even my mom believed that one.

My mom, brother, and I were only here because she had been transferred. Why a huge insurance company would want to create a facility in a small, rural town was beyond me, but then again, I wasn't into marketing or economics or anything like that.

"Tiffany Marie," I could tell she was getting frustrated since she had used my middle name, "this is your home now. You should really get yourself acquainted with it."

"Fine," I muttered. I toppled over from my spot on the floor and lied on it instead, "Is this more adventurous for you?"

She feigned laughter, "Very funny. Now stop being a smartass. Help me unpack or go outside."

"Gee, I wonder what could possibly be out there," I stated sarcastically. I stood myself up and brushed off my dress. I walked around my mother and out of the room, but not before I kicked the rickety door on my way out. Before my mom could say anything, I began running door the halls, down the stairs and out the back door. At least I had remembered where one thing was, the exit.

I cautiously tiptoed through the rose garden that had somehow lasted the house's years of abandonment. My mom wouldn't tell me why it had been empty for so long. My guess was that somebody had died. Nonetheless, it was unnatural for a garden's hedges to still be trimmed and its rosebushes to still retain a shape after so long. I maneuvered my way through the garden silently, watching my Mary Jane's shine in the sunlight.

_I like this_, I thought, _it's quiet here and almost like another world_. Everything looked perfect. I sat down under a rather tall, white rosebush and took in the scenery. The still world was too good to be true. It had to be. Why would someone leave a house abandoned for years and years if it had such a magnificent garden?

My mind abruptly switched topics and I wondered if my dad would have liked it here. He was still back home…there were no chain grocery stores that he could work at around here. In such a small area, we should have expected him to have to stay. It confused me how my mother was able to leave her love halfway across the country. I couldn't stand it…

Jonathon, his name echoed through my thoughts. I pictured his wavy brown hair. I had been pretty long, but it wasn't just because he wanted it that way. He was planning on donating it. He was so beautiful; at least he was to me. I wished I could see what it looked like now; he was getting it cut today. I'd say anything about what he did was romantic, but cutting his hair was more or less a symbol of new beginnings. Though, in reality he'd taken that chance a week earlier.

I had loved Jon so much…I had finally told him my feelings and just two days afterwards, he asked out my best friend. It should have been obvious that he would want her more. She was tall, supermodel skinny and had long, blonde, curly hair. Most of all, she had those blue eyes only an angel could have. She had always been there for me until that day.

After he had asked her out, she immediately asked me what she should do about it. I lied and told her I didn't care, but what else could I have done? If she was really my friend, shouldn't she have known to say no to him since I liked him? I guess, to her it didn't matter. Maybe the fact she had been single all the years I had known her was the only reason she had stayed with me.

I guess it didn't matter to her what I felt. When I cried and told her they could be together if she wanted to date him, she assured me that she would say no to him.

The next day, my emotions basically went on a rampage when I heard they were together. I told her that I'd-

I felt a tiny _plop!_ on my skirt, then another and another. I was crying again. I really was getting tired of all of these tears. It happened every time I had enough time to think for myself. That's why I needed a distraction so badly. Otherwise, I would keep making an idiot of myself.

In all honesty, I shouldn't be surprised that she betrayed me. She was gorgeous and I'm sure she knew it. Besides, who would want someone like me? I had blunt bangs and brown hair that dangled only a few inches below my shoulders, I had dark green eyes with orange circles about the pupil…and I was short. I was barely hitting five feet and I was sixteen! One of my other friends decided to rate me and told me that on a scale of ten, I was between five and six. I mean honestly, it was all such a-

A small, white form hopped across my field of vision. I sat up straighter and tensed before I realized what it was: a rabbit.

I smiled to myself and wiped the tears from my face. It was pretty embarrassing I needed a rabbit to run by me to remind me that I was being stupid. I lived here now and I was probably never going to see those people again anyway.

Another weird thought entered my mind: Maybe it was this rabbit who had kept the garden intact all of this time. I watched as the rabbit bounded back the other way. I began giggling; it appeared as if this rabbit was wearing a coat. He must have been someone's pet. I mean, people put sweaters on their dogs. Perhaps, rabbits could be domesticated like that too.

I stared at the clouds for a few moments, doing everything I could to continue thinking about what made an animal so obedient rather than having another sob fest.

I felt a tap on my leg and my head jerked in that direction. I'd been worried it was a bug, but it was just that rabbit. Huh, it did have a coat on…it had glasses too. How strange. I felt my lips creep up into a grin and I kicked at the rabbit. It hopped backwards and I crawled out from under the bushes to chase it. I knew it would be faster than me, but I followed it anyway. I needed something to do, and it was good to have a goal. If I could get my hands on it, maybe I would be able to pet it. The whole thing was pretty pointless, but at least it was managing to-

A hole?

My legs flailed through the air, trying to search for some surface to travel over. I instinctively tried to grab for anything within my reach, but the crevasse felt like it was from a cartoon. It was nothing, but bleak darkness and the fading light from above. I couldn't see the bottom, but I felt as if I'd be hitting it with a _splat!_

"I'm surprised. The last time I brought someone here, I had to force her," a voice said next to me.

"EH?!" I shouted as I turned to look at a man with white hair and….rabbit ears?! I saw him wince and put one hand to his ears, with his other; he put a finger to his lips.

"You need to be quieter, Tiffany. My ears are very sensitive," he said, looking almost embarrassed. I stared at the man. He had glasses, and a red coat…just like that rabbit.

"You're the rabbit!" I gasped. "What are you-How did-Why am I falling down a hole!" I decided that was the best question to ask, after all, I wasn't so sure I wanted to know his motive for luring me here, or why he knew my name. And I really didn't care about his transfiguration skills.

He looked a little surprised about something. People always seemed to be taken aback by how forward I could be, or maybe he noticed my extreme indecision problem, instead. In the end, he simply smiled and chirped, "Falling is fun! I won't ruin the surprise though! You'll see when we get there!"

There was a sudden burst of light and I anticipated a _CRASH!_ but there was none. It seemed as if we had floated down the hole. I looked around. This rabbit and I were on some kind of tower. We were surrounded by other towers as well. The daytime sun was bright and warm on my skin, but it still burned my eyes after the sudden change in light.

"Okay. So we're out of the hole and in some magically colorful world…" I muttered to myself.

"Welcome to Wonderland, my dear," the rabbit said cheerfully.

I took one more quick look around. "Take me home."

"Wha-" if he hadn't been surprised by how direct I was before, he certainly was now.

"You heard me," I said sternly, "Take me home." I annunciated each of the syllables clearly.

"But, Tiffany-"

Now that the hole wasn't the biggest issue anymore, I cut him off, "How do you know my name?"

He spoke cheerfully and I already hated him for it, "Because I love you."

"No. You don't."

"But I do."

"If you loved me then-" I stopped myself. I would not burst into a tangent about what love was in front of this…thing. "Take me home," I said again sternly.

"How about this," the rabbit began, "if you drink this," he took out a small vial of liquid, "I promise you'll be able to go home soon."

I hesitantly took the vial, "How soon?"

"That all depends on you," he was smiling again.

"No!" I shouted, "I won't do it, especially not if it's given to me by some creepy bunny-otaku who kidnapped me!"

"Please," he whimpered and gave me a puppy dog look. I winced at his attempt to be cute.

I steadied my gaze into a glare and threw the vial at him, "No, you sick, twisted bastard!"

He caught it without any apparent effort, before offering it to me again.

"Drink," he urged me again, "You'll be able to go home soon."

_Home_, I thought to myself. I really did want to go home. I wanted to see Dad and my old friends. I'd never be able to do that if I was trapped in this world. Maybe all of the bad things that had happened recently had just been a dream. If I could escape, everything would be normal again.

"You promise I'll be able to go home soon?" I asked with a steady gaze.

The rabbit's ears perked up and he nodded furiously, "Of course!"

I nodded once and took the vial. I popped off the tiny cap and up-ended it. I tried not to focus on the taste because if I had just taken poison, I really didn't want to punch myself for it. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and recapped the bottle. After that, I felt my limbs grow heavier. My knees buckled under me and the rabbit caught me in his arms. Everything around me started growing fuzzy before I was consumed by blackness.

_Dammit. I'd just taken a date rape drug, hadn't I?_


	2. Chapter 2

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Two

I could feel sunlight brushing against my cheek. It was warm and comfortable and lovely. I must have been in my room. I could feel the warm covers enveloping me. I snuggled them closer to me. I must've been at home. _That was a strange dream_, I thought, _if I remember right there was some weird rabbit guy and the new house was weird too. I can't remember. I must need more sleep_.

I rolled onto my side, trying to get a bit more comfy. I felt a hand brush some of my hair behind my ear. Mom must be waking me up for the flight. I smiled. I knew today couldn't be as bad as my anxiety wanted it to be. Though, I would miss that rose garden.

I waited for my mom's warm voice to tell me to wake up, but it never came. Instead, I was wrapped into an awkward hug. I began to rub my eyes and mumbled, "Mom?"

My eyes opened, lazily. Then they widened. I gasped. I was looking at that rabbit-eared freak from that dream! "W-where am I?" I stuttered. My head was spinning with an overload of panic.

"You're in my room," the rabbit said. I pushed myself away from him and onto the floor. What did this guy want from me?

"Why did you bring me here?" I shouted as I stood up.

He looked a little hurt as he reasoned, "You fainted. It was only natural that I'd bring you somewhere to rest."  
"You should've brought me home!" I screamed back. Logic was never the first thing to cross my mind in stressful situations, let alone ones where I had just slipped back into consciousness. I felt my clothes just to make sure they were there, "What the hell did you make me drink? Did you rape me?"

I also didn't care that I'd taken the vial with my own free will. He was the kidnapper-stalker, so he was basically responsible for everything.

His only response was the lowering of his ears. He looked legitimately hurt, but I didn't care. I took the opportunity to continuing shouting, "You know you're such a-a-" I searched for a word that was neither vulgar nor unintelligent, but I seemed at a loss.

"You should know my name is Peter. Peter White," he said quietly. The sentence consumed the room with awkwardness.

"I don't care if you're the bloody Queen of England," I inhaled sharply and scrambled for the nearest exit. I pushed myself through the door and began my-

I closed my eyes as I felt myself fall. My mind wandered and I wondered if bunny-stalker - I mean - Peter's room was a floating island or something. I knew nothing about this 'Wonderland' I had been taken to. Anything could have been possible. For all I knew, I might be on an acid trip. Gravity finally took over and I landed on top of someone. As usual, luck was against me and whoever was under me ended up with my chest on his face.

I quickly stood up and stuttered, "S-sorry."

I turned to run, but my wrist was caught. _Shoot,_ I thought, _Peter must have gotten out of his room already_. I rotated and readied myself to throw a punch, but instead of a white-haired, rabbit-eared man, I saw a man with brown hair in a red coat. His eyes widened slightly.

"You're an outsider," he said.

I blinked a few times in confusion. None of this was making sense. Was I really in some foreign country? Crap, I really had been kidnapped hadn't I? Did it really matter right now? I was trying to escape!

"Sure," I said hesitantly. My eyes shifted away from his. His staring was making me more uncomfortable than I already was. I heard movement from Peter's domain and turned back to the guy in the red coat. I blurted out, "I need an exit quick!"

"But why do you-"

I turned and tugged him along since he wouldn't let go of my damn wrist, "I'll explain after we get out of here. Just please help me find an exit."

He nodded and quickened his pace. He passed me out and began dragging me at his heels. It surprised me how fast he could run, I'm not one to judge but he looked a little bulky under his coat. Maybe he was just wearing a lot of layers.

After a few twists and turns, the man threw open a door and we ran outside onto a tiled area with a railing at the end of it. He stopped short at the railing and I managed to stop myself from crashing into him. I peeked around him to see what the holdup was. This was not the time things needed to go wrong.

"We-we're on a balcony," I gaped.

He laughed and scratched the back of his head, "Sorry about that. I must have taken a wrong turn."

I frowned. Of all people I could have crashed into, it had to someone who was directionally challenged.

There was an ear-piercing sound that tore from the doorway. The red-coated man pushed me out of the way as a bullet grazed the balcony railing. My eyes darted to the door; there, Peter stood with a gun out and aimed at the man.

"Ace, return Tiffany to me," Peter said coldly.

I scowled at him. I was being treated as a possession and not a person. These people were ridiculous.

The so-called Ace looked at me and grinned like a child, "So, your name's Tiffany? That's pretty."

I stared in disbelief. How could this man have a gun pointed at him and still have time to smile at me like an idiot?

I questioned under my breath, "What is wrong with this place?"

Another piercing sound exploded from the gun. Ace ducked towards me; he'd managed to dodge another bullet.

Ace eyed the drop off of the balcony and then grinned at me. "You probably won't like this," he said as he scooped me up into his arms and jumped off the landing.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" I screamed as we fell. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed my eyes shut. The wind rushed through my hair and drowned out all sounds. My eyes watered and I couldn't tell whether I was crying or if the fall was drying out my eyes. I heard a light _tap!_and promptly took in my surroundings. I asked idly, "I'm alive?"

"Of course we are," Ace said happily, while placing me back on my feet. "You didn't think I'd let Peter torture another outsider, did you?"

I looked at Ace quizzically. "I don't understand."

"I could tell you about it later," he replied quickly with what was becoming his signature grin. Jeez, it seemed like my questions were always being avoided.

I heard footsteps approaching from behind us and wondered if Peter had already caught up. In one swift motion, Ace tossed me onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and began running away through a rose garden. As the foliage blurred around us, I examined where we had just jumped from. My eyes widened, I had just been in a huge castle. It looked as if it were from a storybook my mom would've read to me years ago. I was pretty sure that I was on an acid trip still. This place was surreal.

The castle seemed to be shrinking into the distance. I assumed Ace knew where he was headed this time. "Where are we going?" I asked loudly.

"Well, when you tackled me earlier I was on my way to the clock tower. I can bring you there too," he stated contently.

"Gladly," I grinned. Maybe that's the place I was earlier. Then I can go home.

Ace and I had been wandering in the woods for what seemed like an eternity. The sun was setting and I didn't like dark places, especially not the woods. Everything had been quiet for at least an hour as we marched on through the winding path of trees and roots. I learned Ace was the "Knight of Hearts," though he also worked for a man named Julius Monrey. He wouldn't tell me what he did for this Julius, but I guessed he must be a spy or something.

I also learned that Wonderland was at war with itself. There were three different sides: the King and Queen, the mafia, and an amusement park. How an amusement park could be any danger was beyond me, but then again, this wasn't my world.

Now, we were talking about this 'outsider' business:

"How did you know I was an outsider, Ace?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

He laughed a little and replied simply, "Well, when you fell on me earlier, I heard your heartbeat."

He smiled and blushed a bit, he reminded me of a little kid. I couldn't help, but smile in return, "Heartbeat, huh. That doesn't seem very out of the ordinary to me."

"Your heart is only the second one I've heard," he said excitedly.

"Who was the first?" I asked, still not understanding the heartbeat business. He must have been joking around. That's all.

"Her name is Alice," he smiled. "She doesn't talk to me much anymore, though."

His expression changed slightly. It looked as if Alice was a sore topic. I frowned and reached to-

There was an echoing crack within the forest. The sound seemed to deafen me after so much quiet scenery. Ace put his hands on my shoulders and whispered into my ear. "When I say 'run,' you flank left. I'll keep going straight and distract him."

I swallowed hard. It didn't feel right letting Ace be the distraction. It was me Peter wanted. Sure, he was a pain, but I'm sure I could handle him myself.

Ace grabbed my hand and ran down the path with me. The cracking branches followed us and mirrored our pace. "Run!" Ace shouted.

I took a deep breath and let go of his hand. I ran towards the left. The trees and branches assaulted me without any mercy. I saw a clearing approaching quickly. I smiled a little on the inside, it seemed I was safe. I took my last stride out of the woods and-

_THUMP!_

I rested my head in the dirt. _I'm such a klutz_, I thought. Only I would manage to trip over-

What did I trip over? I looked down and expected a root. In its place, I found a metal pole. I dragged it out from under the bush next to me. It was an ax. Who in the hell would leave an _ax_ lying around? I stared at it. It had the four card suits across it. I sighed in relief. Hopefully that meant I wasn't near the Castle of Hearts anymore.

There was a pain in my hip. I must've been laying on something else. I sat up, but there was nothing on the ground. I felt in the pocket of my dress. Inside I found a tiny velvet bag. I frowned at it. A friend I had a few years back had given it to me. Inside there were a few colorful rocks. I had debated throwing it away before the move, but tucked it away in my pocket right before leaving. Memories are hard to kill, I guess.

Accompanying the bag was the vial I emptied earlier. It should have been empty, but it appeared as though there were a few drops of liquid left. I didn't understand how-

There was a rustle in the bushes. Shoot! I was caught! I shoved the objects in my hand back in my pocket, and stood up to begin running again. Keeping true to my nature, I tripped over the ax again. I gritted my teeth and tried not to cuss myself out for being such an idiot.

"I found it!" I heard a voice say behind me.

"Is that onee-chan?" a similar voice said.

"No, the hair is too short."

"Then it must be a spy! Look it even tried to get your weapon!" I sat up and spun around. I expected to see two thugs loaded with weapons, but instead I met the eyes of young twins. They both had short, dark hair and matching uniforms. One was wearing blue and the other red. Their eyes matched their clothes as well. They looked like little security guards. I had to hold back a smile.

That ax must have just been a toy. I might not have been reading into things enough, especially after that encounter with Peter earlier.

The blue one said, "Looks like we're going to have to kill her, brother."

The blood drained from my face. _Or not._

"Of course, she's trespassing as it is. And she's even trying to look like onee-chan!" the red one replied. He lifted his own ax (which matched the one on the ground) and put the blade to my throat, "Don't worry, this won't hurt for long."

I faintly heard my name being shouted from the woods. Darn it! It was Peter! I could tell that irritating voice anywhere! I backed away from the ax and stood up. In a hushed voice, I said, "Okay. Hear me out. You can kill me as soon as the chance arrives, but right now I need you to help me get away from this creepy rabbit guy."

"What do you think? Should we help her?" the red one said, lowering his ax.

"I guess. After all, she did find my ax," he gave a childish smile. The two of them seemed just like my brother and I. Each of them took one my hands and held their axes in the other. They began leading the way.

"Thank you," I said quietly while looking at the ground.

The blue boy looked at me and asked casually, "What's your name?"

I blushed a little. I was definitely not the most social person on the planet. My black dress must have revealed that much to a 'normal' person. I took a breath and replied, "Tiffany."

The red boy smiled and said, "I'm Dum and that's Dee."

"Dee and Dum," I paused. I knew I had heard those names somewhere before. The rabbit made it seem even more familiar.

I brushed the thought away and smiled, "Nice to meet you guys, I guess. Where are we headed?"

"Hatter mansion," they said in unison. I thought for a moment. Ace had told me 'Hatter mansion' was where the mafia resided. Maybe I should check if I'm even allowed there before I randomly show up.

"Do you think it would be okay if I went?"

"You asked for our help. Why shouldn't you be allowed there?" Dum asked.

"Well," I paused, "the mansion is where to mafia resides, correct? Shouldn't there be a rule about outsi-" I thought it would be a good idea to leave out the detail that I was an outsider "-uninvited guests?"

Dee and Dum exchanged glances. Dee leaned toward me, "Y'know lady, you seem pretty nervous to be going to the mansion."

Dum followed his brother's example and did the same, "Yeah, if you didn't look so helpless, I'd say you were an enemy."

I straightened my posture and made myself slightly taller than them. "I do _not_ look helpless."

They both smirked and took a few steps away. "Fine," the twins said, "then we won't help you anymore."

I turned red, "No! T-that's not what I meant. I just-I'm nervous. I don't want to run into any trouble with your boss or anything."

They returned to holding my hands. "You're lucky then," Dee said.

"The boss is out," Dum finished.

I nodded and bit my lip. I was being baited by ten year olds! I really was helpless!

Soon, the three of us arrived at Hatter mansion. There was a vast gate in the front and an even larger building behind it. I stared. It was almost as magnificent as the Castle of Hearts. _I shouldn't be so excited_, I thought, _this property was owned by a mafia boss. It was normal for him to flash around his money._

In an instant, the sun disappeared and night fell over the mansion. I held my breath for a moment. We were only a few steps from the mansion, but I hated the dark nonetheless. Seeing that the twins weren't fazed by the sudden change of day, I decided to keep quiet. I definitely wouldn't want anyone else to know I'm an outsider.

Our trio entered the mansion. I tried not to look like a tourist as I gazed at the ornate furnishings. A couple of maids walked passed us. They both had brown hair and -I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't crazy- no eyes. Again, I looked at Dee and Dum. Neither of them seemed fazed, if anything they looked annoyed. The maids were both holding stacks of paperwork and were asking the twins when someone named Blood would be back. Blood must've been the mafia's secretary or something. I found myself wondering if mafias even needed secretaries.

Dee and Dum both grabbed my wrists tightly. "Come on! I want to show you my room!" they said in unison excitedly.

Though, to me it sounded like_: "Come with us and we'll kill you like we promised!" _

They both glared at each other and I was momentarily confused.

Dee exclaimed, "I'm bringing her!" as he yanked me towards him. I thought sarcastically, _At least he uses my name…_

Dum pulled me back and argued, "No, me!"

They both released me and ran at each other with their axes. They began tossing around insults and screaming about who was bringing me to the room. I stared in disbelief. Boy, I was glad my brother and I didn't have weapons like these or one of us would be killed. Crap! That's how it would end for them too!

"Guys! You can both bring me!" I tried, but neither of them backed down.

"Stop!" I screamed. Nothing.

I sighed and fell on the ground, pretending to pass out. Still nothing.

_It's time to try something risky_, I thought.

I crouched down and watched them fight. They both turned and took a few steps back. _Now's my chance!_ I ran in between the pair as they charged at one another again. I spread out my arms, hoping to keep them back. I felt a thud against each of my hands and a sting on each of my cheeks.

While pulling their axes away from me, Dee and Dum stared in disbelief. "Why did you stop us?"

"Because you can both bring me."

"You didn't need to stop us, though!" Dum said.

"We'd be replaced!" Dee finished.

"Even if you were replaced, it wouldn't be Dee and Dum. It'd be someone I don't know," I stated plainly. _And where I am right now, I don't need to be meeting even more people. _

But why was everyone so indifferent about death? Peter was shooting at Ace like a madman and the twins weren't even pretending they were playing.

"Lady, you're bleeding," Dee said.

"Really?" I asked. I touched my cheek and looked at the crimson mark, "What do you know? I am." I smiled like an idiot. A cut or two was definitely better than someone being beheaded. "Well, I'm going to need a Band-Aid or something, and probably a disinfectant of some kind."

Dee and Dum replied with silence.

"Don't you guys know about first aid? Or have any supplies? A First Aid kit perhaps?"

There was a moment of silence before Dum exclaimed, "Alice knows 'First Aid!' She patched up Boris once!"

"Good idea, brother. Let's bring her to Alice."

Each of them grabbed one of my hands again and led me down the hall.

**A/N: Sort of a cheesy way to end a chapter, but that's okay. It's better than "And they walked off together into the sunset." I felt it was a little dry at times, but I tried to fix it.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Three

We walked up stairs, around corners and through doors. The mansion appeared endless. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the twins stopped at a curtain. I was about to raise an eyebrow (and maybe a question), when Dum brushed aside the curtain to reveal a large double door entrance. The twins led me through them.

My eyes wandered around the large, circular room. There were no walls, but instead immense windows framed by ornate, blue drapery. In the center of the room sat a round table. At the table was a brunette woman in a blue dress, sipping tea. She looked up and smiled warmly. _She must be Alice_, I thought.

"Dee, Dum is that you?" she asked in a voice as warm as her smile. The lady stood from the table and began walking towards our trio.

"Yes!" they said excitedly in unison. They ran towards her, dragging me along.

"Did you two have fun today?" she continued to smile and outstretched her arms. The twins released my hands and hugged her.

"Yes, onee-chan! We had lots of fun!" the boys said.

I couldn't tell who said what since my eyes shifted to the floor. I felt guilty. This woman expressed her love for people so easily; I was jealous. I'd never been about to show anyone love, not even my mother. I would just hold all my emotions inside. Not just love, but all of them: happiness, sadness, anger, hatred, and many more. I was messed up. It's no wonder I've been sent to this living chaos. It's almost as screwy as-

"Who's your new friend?" My gaze jolted up to the woman. She was staring at me warmly. I had nearly forgotten where I was.

"I'm Tiffany, miss," I said as I tightly clenched the sides of my skirt. I watched a few drops of blood fall from my cheeks to the floor. A hand lifted my chin and I released a squeak of surprise. I was staring into Alice's eyes. They were a bright blue-green.

"Tiffany, what happened to your cheeks?" Her voice and expressions remained warm. I felt my jaw tense. She was too close and her voice was far too happy. My temper began to sizzle.

"I-uh-the boys and I were playing and we haven't exactly learned how to play nice, yet," I avoided her eyes. I had to force myself to speak. All I wanted to do right now was close up and go to my happy place.

"Were they fighting again, Miss Tiffany?" she laughed softly.

My eyes widened slightly, she guessed it so easily. Wait, siblings always fight…Maybe she's not psychic.

I nodded, simply.

"Yes," she paused. Then in her cheery voice she said, "Let's get you cleaned up."

She guided me to her tea table as if I was going to collapse at any moment. I gently sat myself into a chair as Alice gathered some bandages, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and a rag.

Within minutes, my cuts were clean and covered. Alice had suggested we have some tea. When Dee and Dum excitedly agreed, I couldn't help but accept. Three against one was never good odds, especially not in a weird country were everyone had fun killing each other. I listened to the conversation, but kept myself from commenting. Every time I thought I might be asked to join a conversation, I would lift the teacup to my lips.

First, their conversation consisted of Dum and Dee explaining to Alice how they met me. Then the conversation took a turn:

Alice happily asked, "So, boys, what did you do today before you met Miss Tiffany?"

"Oh! We were playing Kill-or-Die with the guards from the castle!" Dum chuckled.

"Yeah! Kill-or-Die is always a fun way to pass time!" Dee added.

Alice nodded, calmly. "Ah, yes. It seems the majority of us cherish a good game of Kill-or-Die every now and again."

Upon hearing this, I choked on my tea. I turned away from the table and excessively coughed. Alice, Dee, and Dum turned and stared at me.

"Are you all right?" Alice asked after my coughing had ceased.

I would have nodded, but this was not one of those _I can just brush this strangeness away_ moments. I stood up and slammed both my hands onto the tabletop. "Kill _or _die?" I shouted, "KILL OR DIE?"

When my screaming was answered with silence, I took the opportunity to begin a rant while pacing around the table. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you people? You aren't fazed by anything! The time changes abruptly, you all carry weapons, you treat me like I'm a doll, and there are people without faces! And _now_ you're telling me you play-"

Abruptly, I stopped talking. For two reasons: One, I had blown my cover and two, Alice had somehow gotten to her feet and put a finger to my lips without me noticing.

"Sweetie," she said in her sugary voice, "You aren't from around here are you?"

I was about to hesitate, but I thought lying was my best way out. "I am from here. I just haven't been allowed to leave my house much."

Alice smiled in response, "If you belong in Wonderland, then tell me what role you hold."

"I-That's none of your business," I said defensively.

"If that's true, then explain to me why there is a warm and welcoming presence that follows you? And-" Alice leaned closer. She wrapped her arms around my waist, pinning my arms to my sides, and pushed her weight forward. I fell with a soft _thud!_ to the floor. Alice rested her head against my chest. "-why can I hear the _doki-doki_ and _thump-thump _of your heartbeat?"

I stared, at nothing in particular, in confusion. "Excuse me? The '_doki-doki _and_ thump-thump?_'" _This woman's tea must have gone straight to her head_. My eyes widened in realization. Ace had mentioned my heartbeat, too. "Wh-what do you mean? What's so special about my heartbeat? Everyone has one. Why should mine be any different?"

Alice chuckled. It seemed dark compared to her familiar, cheery demeanor. She released me and sat up. She pulled me up by my shoulders and rested my ear against her chest. "Listen," she whispered.

_Tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic._

"A-Alice, do you have a watch on you? That's all I can-" I broke off into silence. _This was her heartbeat._ I felt my heart rate speed up in fear. This is a clock. Inside a person. How-how could that happen? I said hollowly, "This is your heartbeat."

Alice nodded as she rested my head and shoulders back to the ground. "Yes," she said in that same dark voice, "This is my heart now."

I felt my breathing pace increase. That's a clock. In a person. _She shouldn't be alive! _Alice began lowering her face close to mine again and I promptly shut my eyes. "Tiffany," she whispered into my ear, "I believe you owe me a gift for my hospitality."

My eyes fluttered open. I whispered through shallow breaths, "I'm confused. Wh-what are you talking about?"

I was being forced to stare into Alice's eyes again.

"I served you tea. You owe your hostess a gift," she laughed darkly after her statement.

My heart and breath appeared to be in synch as I began to panic. This conversation definitely wasn't going in the direction I wanted it to go. I remained silent as I saw Alice's lips curve into a malicious smile.

"It's only fair you give me," she paused to lick her lips, "your heart."

I opened my mouth to respond, but instead was greeted with Alice's hands wrapped around my throat. My vision blurred with the tears I began shedding. All sounds were drowned out by Alice's disturbed laughter. Pain seared through my entire body. Lost memories flooded into my head. I was going to die. I could hear my pulse in my head. I tried to choke out a cough, a breath, a word, anything.

A high-pitched drone began and the pain subsided, my body must have given up too. Adrenaline or something else must have been flooding through me in order to let me die without pain. Breathing seemed to become vaguely possible. I was definitely dying. There was no way a woman this desperate would release someone like me, so feeble, and lost. A small tingling noise, similar to a bell, rang within my head. At first, it was indiscernible, but I soon realized it was two noises. Both were shouting. I could hear a "Tiffany" and "Alice" every so often, but the rest was still gibberish. Somewhere within the nonsense buzzing through my head, I heard "Open your eyes!"

I forced my eyes to intake the scene around me:

The twins were screaming and trying to pry Alice away by her shoulders. Alice was releasing a steady, bloodcurdling scream. My torso was covered in something warm and wet. At first, I thought Alice had broken the skin in my neck and that she must have been screaming because Dee and Dum were preventing her from reaching her goal. After examining the scene myself more closely, I realized Alice didn't have much of a grip on my neck anymore, and that my hands had somehow grabbed onto her wrists. After noticing my fingers were numb and my hands were red, I concluded I had clawed into her wrists until the skin, and maybe even the veins, had broken.

I pulled Alice's hands away from my neck until I managed to gasp. Quickly, I released her hands and pushed her away. As her body went limp, I rushed out of the room and into the hallway. While half blinded by tears, I twisted and turned through the corridors. Again, I was reminded how vast the mansion was. The only time I was sure of where I was going was when I headed down stairs. Though, this attempt to escape had to end and unfortunately, that was when I ran into a dead end. On either side of me was a door and in front of me, a window. I walked to the window and looked down; it was still too dark to see if I was above ground level. I didn't expect for a slow sunrise to occur any time soon.

I turned and slid down the wall until I was sitting. At last my senses were consumed by my racing mind. My body went numb. My vision became a blob as I let my tears fall. The silence of the hall was broken by my sobs. "I just want to go home," I whispered to myself.

A tapping on the window pulled me away from my self-pity. I assumed it was a bird, until I heard a soft "Ow!"

I wiped my eyes with the hem of my skirt, pulled myself up, and began to walk away from the window.

There was a gasp, "Alice! Long time no see!" I was promptly tackled to the ground, a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. "I was just looking for you! I wanted to know if you would come to the amusement park with-" The stranger's voice was suddenly quieter. He must have noticed my blood-soaked hands. "-me."

I shut my eyes. Whoever this was, I didn't want him to see me. Not like this. I must look like a murderer.

"Alice," he paused, "are you alright?" I was rolled onto my back. Both of our eyes widened when we caught a glimpse of each other. This man had _cat ears?_ I mean, sure the bunny ears on Peter were weird, but there were more animal eared freaks in this world? The ears were bad enough, but this _person_ was dressed in punk clothes and had a huge pink and purple boa. I opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a gun against my left temple and a hand forcing me against the floor by my right shoulder. "Who are you?" the cat said accusingly.

"Tiffany," my voice cracked. My voice hadn't completely recovered from crying. I tried to look at the gun without moving my head when the cat spoke again.

"Why are you covered in blood?" he asked, lowering his weapon cautiously.

I thought about saying _Oh, I just emptied half the blood from Alice's body because she was choking me to death_, but I decided that acting helpless was much wiser.

"I-I was attacked," I whispered avoiding eye contact.

"By who?"

Well, that plan just went into the toilet. There was no use lying now. I said flatly, "Alice."

The cat's eyes widened in response, but nothing more.

"She wants my heart…" I tried to explain. I hoped he would sympathize with me or get me out of this building, maybe even take me home.

He quickly stood up. I felt my heart sink. He probably didn't believe me. He must like Alice, just like everyone else. I felt my eyes start to water again, when the cat outstretched his hand. He said in a voice as flat as mine, "Boris."

I stared with a questioning look as he helped me up.

"That's my name," he laughed. He sounded a bit nervous, but I felt the tension melt away. It was nice to know someone around here was almost sane.

I smiled in return, "Even your laugh sounds like a cat."

I thought I saw him blush, but I turned after hearing the sound of footsteps rushing towards me. It was Dee and Dum, "Tiffany! Alice is feeling much better now! She wants to apologize!"

I swallowed, "I…I…"

I was scared. I didn't want to go back, ever. That woman would definitely kill me. Considering the twins nearly killed me when we met, and the way everyone seemed to worship Alice around here, they might even help her kill me. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head.

It was as if a light bulb went off in my mind. _It was night._

"I'm tired. I want to sleep first," I blurted out. I felt myself turn red. Why was it so hard to lie to those damn kids?

"She could probably use some sleep, you two. It looks like she's had a long day," Boris added for me. In my peripheral vision I saw him point to my bloodstained hands and torso. I smiled awkwardly.

The boys nodded and smiled, "We'll show her to a guest room!"

I frowned. "I don't want to stay here. I don't want Alice near me," I complained, though there was another reason I was too ashamed to admit.

"You can stay with me at the amusement park," Boris laughed and put an arm around my shoulder like we were old friends.

I turned and faced Boris. I looked up at him, "Boris," I thought of something I could add to make this less to the point, but failed, "I don't know you."

I saw his ears fall, and it broke my heart. I knew from my own cat that it was a bad sign. I reached up and scratched one of his ears.

"Thanks anyway," I mumbled.

He grinned and I had to hold back a laugh.

"Um, if you guys can show me the way, I'm sure I can get to the Castle. I know they'll let me stay there." I added to myself, _and hopefully Ace will be able to keep Peter away_.

Clearly, I said the wrong thing. The three of them were staring at me like I was crazy. I felt myself turn red, again. This blush was going to become a bad habit. They exchanged glances with each other and declared in unison, "She's staying here."

My jaw dropped, "Eh?"

The twins linked arms with me, while Boris guided me by my shoulders. As we walked, everyone continued to persuade where I should stay.

"She should stay in our room!" Dee and Dum continued to argue with Boris.

"Just get her a guest room," Boris repeated. I was agreeing with him until he added, "I'll stay with her and make sure nothing happens."

I tried to turn myself around to look at him and argued, "No! I don't trust any of you enough to stay with me while I sleep!"

Again, Boris' ears drooped sadly. Bwa! Must not be persuaded by cuteness! I quickly faced forward again and groaned in frustration. _Winning this argument with girls would be hard enough, but they're stubborn guys…and I'm a stubborn girl. Great_, I thought apathetically.

I noticed we were passing through the foyer with the maids and their paperwork again. They were still waiting for that Blood person. Once again, we walked up the main staircase, but the twins stopped. "I know! I know!" Dee shouted.

"Yeah! She can stay in Blood's room!" Dum added.

"He probably won't be back until morning anyway!"

I stared and felt my cheeks turn red. I wouldn't be able to sleep in some random person's room. I looked at Boris for help, but he was looking up, thoughtfully. "That is a good idea. We'll know the room's clean and everything."

I tried to understand where Boris was coming from. I thought to myself, _Blood must definitely be the mafia's secretary or something. That must mean he's a neat freak and then sleeping in his room would be as bad as a hotel room. _I turned and looked at the three of them, "But I don't want to stay in the secretary's room!"

The all stared wide-eyed for a moment and burst into laughter. I stared in confusion, while Boris choked out, "You think Blood is a _secretary?_"

Somehow the twins formed a sentence through their laughter explaining, "Blood-is-the-boss."

I felt my body heat up and I clenched my fists so hard they began to shake. I stared at the floor, as everything got cloudy. I lifted my left fist, defensively then let it drop. Hurting people over my own stupid assumption wasn't worth it. I sat down and covered my face. If I was lucky, they wouldn't be able to see that I was trying not to cry again.

_I hated trying to deduct information. Usually I was right, but I made stupid mistakes too. This had to be the dumbest mistake I'd made in a while. _

As suddenly as the trio had started laughing, they had stopped.

Boris kneeled in front of me, "Hey, Tiffany, are you okay?"

I wiped my eyes with my palms and looked up. Dum, Dee and Boris stared in horror. I looked at my hand and saw the dried blood was dripping again. I must have made my tears look bloody too. Boris helped me up by my arm and supported me as we continued to walk. "Guest room it is," he said, trying to sound lighthearted and cheerful. Boris glanced at the twins, "Get some sleep. I'm trusting you two to take care of her after I leave."

After what seemed like an hour of unsteady walking, Boris and I stopped in front of one of the many identical doors. He steadied me and opened it. I hesitantly followed after him. The door seemed to shut itself after I entered. The lights flicked on and I scanned the room, it was practically that hotel room I didn't want. Unsteadily, I walked to the bed, sat down and began unbuckling my shoes. Boris was staring at me intently from across the room. My gaze locked with his.

He abruptly took a few steps forward and sat next to me. "Tiffany," he whispered softly. He rested his cheek against mine.

I felt my pulse increase.

"Can you scratch my ear again?"

I turned bright red and laughed, "Some other time, okay? I'm actually really tired."

"Right, forgot about that," Boris laughed, clearly embarrassed. He gave me a quick hug, and turned out the light. He hopped out the window. God, everyone around here was so odd.

I quickly took off my dress, remaining in my white, blood-stained blouse, and petticoat. I rolled myself under the covers and made sure none of my skin was exposed. I stared blankly into the abyss of the covers.

I began to shiver. The dark seemed to consume me. My breathing became shallow as I hoped the torment of the dark would stop. My eyes watered and I squeezed them shut. _I'm such a coward. Two-year olds can stand the dark, yet I can't. There isn't even an excuse for it, _I thought, _There was no tragic story. No tragic memory. There was no story of being thrown into an alley and getting tortured or anything, just a fear of the unknown._

A squeak came from the door, and I sat upright. "Tiffany," one of the twins said, "Are you okay?"

I avoided eye contact even though they couldn't see anyway, "Yes, I'm fine."

"Liar. I can see your face is shining. You were crying again."

"Fine. You win. Go sleep now."

"Tiffany, are you afraid of the night?"  
"No."

"The dark?"

"Not that either. It's what can be lurking in the dark."

There was a long silence. "We have to keep you safe. Boris wants us too, 'member?"

I looked at the bed. It was definitely big enough for three people. Besides, they were just kids. "Fine," I sighed.

"Yay!" The two of them climbed into bed, one on each side of me. Once I lied back down, they wrapped their arms around me. I smiled. I imagined myself sleeping on the futon at our family friend's house. My brother, another nine-year old and I slept almost like this. The pleasant memories flooded through me and lulled me to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Four

I opened my eyes after what seemed like seconds and looked around. What I expected to be similar to a hotel bedroom, ended up being an endless mass of colors. Concluding I was alone, I sighed to myself, "Great. A dream that's almost as strange as this screwy Wonder World."

"It's not necessary for you to say your thoughts out loud, even in dreams, Tiffany."

I turned around to face a silver haired man with an eye patch. He was floating towards me. I would've been surprised, but technically I was floating too. I calmly stated, "Huh, since you know my name, you must be the guardian angel of my mind or something."

The man inhaled sharply and began coughing up blood. I stared as he apologized.

I ripped off a piece of my sleeve, "You don't need to apologize for any illness you have," I handed the man the piece of fabric, "You can clean yourself off with this. It's too bad I don't carry handkerchiefs with me," I paused and waited for him to say something. When he didn't reply, I continued, "What are you sick with anyway? Shouldn't you see a doctor or something?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't like hospitals," he answered me as if he'd been asked this question many times before.

"Why not?"

"They're freaky."

"Why?" I egged on childishly.

"I hate shots."

"That's a little childish, don't you think? Even I'm not afraid of shots anymore," he looked like he was losing his patience with me. I changed the subject, "So, are you a guardian or what?"

"I'm Nightmare, a dream demon."

"Dream demon," I repeated to myself. I observed him again. Aside from his eye patch and a magical floating loop, he looked pretty human. "I don't see it."

He answered me with more silence.

"Why don't you visit a doctor? Is your fear of hospitals really so bad that you'd rather die?"

"Death doesn't matter in Wonderland,-" That must be why they're all so quick to pull out their weapons, "-especially for role holders like myself," I was glad Nightmare had finally replied to something.

"Role holders," I started, "I heard a lot of people use that term today. There was talk about being replaced too. At first I thought it must mean there were more people willing to do that job, but does it mean something else?"

"You'll understand in time," I was about to persist he explain, but the subject was changed too quickly, "You might want to stop assuming so much. People might think you're cheating the Game."

I blinked in confusion, "Game? Even if I was playing Monopoly or something, I still make mistakes. Though, I'd rather not share my latest slipup."

"The Game I'm speaking of is something everyone in Wonderland takes part in," he began, "The role holders, the servants, everyone."

I sighed, "I'm aware I barely know how things work here, but it seems like a lot of you have some very," I paused to search for the word, "rehearsed statements."

Nightmare didn't answer. I had the feeling I insulted him, but I wasn't completely sure. I took the opportunity to ask the question that had been gnawing at me since the moment I fell into that rabbit hole, "Why was I brought here?"

Nightmare looked a little surprised by my question, but answered in a way that made my temper flare, "To be happy, of course."

"How could I possibly be happy here? Everyone I know and love is out of my reach."

"In this world, Tiffany, everyone will fall in love with you."

"I don't want that to happen. I don't want to fall in love with anyone ever again. All it does is causes pain and tension in everyone's life." I thought about my old life. After my best friend discovered I was in love with Jon, it felt like she divided our group up like this country.

"Then you shouldn't have drunk that vial. Now you're part of the game. Now you can't leave."

I thought I felt my heart drop into my stomach. "I-I can't go home? But Peter-"

"He lied. You aren't the first person he's forced into the game, but trust me when I say this: All he wants is for you to be happy."

I pushed Nightmare away (and ignored the fact he started to vomit blood again), "No! If he wanted me to be happy he should have left me there! Sure, I was in a miserable state, but the human heart is always changing! So I would have gotten over it sooner or later!"

I listened as Nightmare's coughs subsided and he calmly added, "Similar to how you'll learn to accept your place in Wonderland."

"No! I-I won't! I don't have a place here! And it isn't healthy for me to be here! A-Alice! She was an outsider once! That meant you all loved her, but look what's happened! She's mad, crazy! She tried to kill me because she wants to go home! She must have accepted staying here, but she made the wrong choice! Now she wants to go home again! To see her family, her siblings, her friends," my voice slowly faded away. Everything became blurry and Nightmare appeared to be fading. "Wait!" I shouted, "I need to-"

I sat bolt upright in bed. I was breathing heavily and covered in a cold sweat. I tried to remember the dream I had just had. I reflected for a moment. Had I stood up for Alice? It couldn't be. I must've been standing up for myself or something. Why would I want to stand up for someone who tried to kill me hours ago?

I remembered Dum and Dee were here when I went to sleep. They had obviously left sometime while I was unconscious. The sun was out. It looked to be around midday. That must have been why they were gone.

I scuttled into a bathroom adjacent to the bedroom so that I could wash my bloodied face and hands. As I redressed myself, I wondered why I had slept so late. My mind was so preoccupied, the fact my sleeve actually had a piece missing didn't matter. Right after dressing, I exited into the hall and listened. I heard footsteps and voices approaching. I strained to hear the conversation:

"I don't believe it," the first voice said, "Another outsider was lured into the Game by White."

"What did you expect, Elliot?" a second voice said, "Alice never leaves here. He must have gotten bored of waiting."

"Hey, but aren't you worried White nabbed someone just like Alice? A girl who will make the same choice she did," there was a moment of silence, "Blood?"

I felt my face heat up. _Shoot_. I don't think I could let myself face the mafia boss after mistaking him for a secretary. Everyone did paperwork! My dad even had to do it at the grocery store. He worked in the produce department for goodness sake!

I quickly took a right, away from the voices and into the endless maze of the mansion. No matter how many turns I took, it seemed like the voices continued to follow me. _Talk about bad luck_, I thought to myself. I was staring at a dead-end. My eyes darted to two red spots on the floor. _My handprints from yesterday! _I thought. Boris had entered the mansion through that window. That means it would make a great exit.

I forced the window open and stuck my head out. There was a branch about four feet away. It definitely appeared strong enough to support me, but how much effort would it take to grab it? And how high up was I? Bravely, I glimpsed downward. It seemed like I was on the second story. I tried to think quickly. Stories on buildings were about eight to ten feet. If I dangled from the branch, I'd be about six feet closer. I shook my head, that was still too far a drop for my mind.

While I was thinking, the footsteps had become much louder. I panicked and slipped out the window so I was sitting on the sill. I reached out my arm; I still needed to stretch at least another foot. After that I would need to crawl to the trunk. Then it would be the easy part; climbing down. The world seemed to spin for a moment and I grabbed onto the windowsill with both hands again. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I hadn't attempted anything this B.A. since, well I couldn't think of anything at the moment.

I opened my eyes. I noticed the conversation and footsteps had stopped. I was about to sigh with relief until I heard the cock of a gun. I felt myself tense up. I wouldn't give myself the chance to face these people. They were dangerous. Everyone was dangerous, but this was the _mafia_. My limited knowledge about them didn't seem to make me anymore comfortable. My adrenaline began pumping. I crouched on the sill and leapt to the branch like a frog. I caught myself on it by the crooks of my elbows. I winced and hoisted myself onto the branch. Nervously, I scooted to the tree trunk. Once I grasped it, I hopped down each branch carefully.

I smiled to myself. I was going to make it down unharmed. The men were talking at the window; I wouldn't be greeted by anyone once I got down. I heard a _CRK!_ and I felt weightless. The world seemed to slow as I watched a small rectangular object float in front of my eyes. My heel had broken on a branch! I closed my eyes and hoped the fall would be as painless as the ones from my childhood. I felt the quick impact and stood up.

"Thank God for adrenaline," I whispered to myself.

I ran awkwardly toward the front gates of Hatter Mansion and exited into the woods. I quickly took off my useless heels. As I ran through the trees (in the direction I hoped was the Clock Tower), I wondered if leaving my shoes right outside the woods was the right choice. _Sure, they probably assumed I would run into the woods, but what if I kicked off my shoes in a way that pointed to where I was going? _I thought back to my exact movements. _Shoot, they would be able to see where I was running now._

Stubbornly, I continued on the same path. Getting lost was not going to help me. After a few minutes, I began walking. "Maybe leaving wasn't the greatest choice," I said to myself, "I mean, at least in the mansion there were people. Now I'm wandering aimlessly and alone."

_It had to be a good choice, though,_ I answered myself, _somebody put a gun to your head._

I shook my head and cleared my mind. _Humming, _I thought, _that would keep me from freaking myself out_. I began humming tunelessly, but I soon began singing out loud. Every now and again, I would laugh between lyrics, realizing I was singing a song I would listen to back home.

There was a crack in the bushes and I immediately silenced myself. _I could never have more than five minutes of peace in this place, could I?_ Silently, I backed myself against the nearest tree. The movement stopped but the tips of something emerged in the bushes. I stared at the exposed tan objects. If I wasn't mistaken, they looked furry. It might have been an animal, but…what kind? The tips straighten and they were further exposed. _They were rabbit ears!_ I closed my eyes tightly. Memories of Peter rushed through my head. I grabbed and pulled the ears in one hand, while screaming and flailing my other.

My scream was mirrored by another and I pulled harder. I would not let myself be manipulated again. I opened my eyes and saw a blond man practically sobbing at my feet. I released his ears and knelt in front of him. I covered my face in embarrassment and began my forgiveness speech, "I'm so sorry! Are you okay? I thought you were someone else! I didn't mean to hurt you!"

The man sat up while holding his head. I looked like I'd given him a massive headache. He looked at me with painful puppy eyes and I bit my lip. It seemed like I had a soft spot for all these animal-eared creeps, with the exception of Peter, of course.

"I-I'm sorry," I repeated, "I thought you were Peter."

I thought I saw him twitch. "It always seems that way doesn't it?" I held my breath. I had probably hit a soft spot, "Just because I have long ears doesn't mean anyone can compare me with that jackass!"

"I-I-I-", I tried to think of something to say, but clearly the _long-eared_ man wasn't finished.

"It's always 'You like carrots and so does he.' But I don't like carrots! I like carrot foods!"

The child in me completely twisted the subject, "Me too!" I smiled brightly and added, "I mean, I've only had carrot cake, but it's really good! It's my favorite."

The man stared at me. I must have confused him, but at least he didn't seem mad anymore. My face heated up.

"I'm, um, just going to go now," I said awkwardly and turned to leave.

The man grabbed my wrist. I twisted at my waist to look at him. He had stood up, and I felt like my inner child had actually made me shrink.

"Wait," he said calmly, "Why did you seem so eager to get out of the mansion earlier?"

I stared at him. I heard the name Elliot mentioned earlier, I assumed it was his. "I-um-I haven't figured my way to the front door yet. Yesterday, I saw Boris enter through that window, so I assumed I would be able exit."

In the silence Nightmare's voice echoed through my head, _In this world, Tiffany, everyone will fall in love with you. _Even though Elliot obviously wasn't convinced, I pulled my arm away from him, "I have to leave."

"But why? We just met," he argued, "I don't even know your name."

I turned back to face the path. I informed him coldly, "My name is Tiffany. If you haven't heard, I'm the new outsider. Good-bye."

I forced myself through the woods. I didn't want to meet anyone. I didn't even want to see the twins or Boris. They'd fall in love with me. I'd hurt everyone. I sat behind a tree off the path and rested my head on my arms. I wished I would just rot here. Then everyone would forget about me…but if I left, Peter would lure some other helpless girl here. I stood up. _I can't just sit around and cry here, I need to fight for my problems, not just hope for the pieces to fall into place!_

I stood up and began tirelessly searching for the Castle. By searching, I meant choosing a random direction and heading there. Since I hated being wrong, I sprinted in the direction I hoped was the Castle. I wanted to know where I was more than anything (aside from telling off Peter). I brushed away the last of the bushes and-

…tripped.

I stood up hesitantly and looked at the object. I laughed, it seemed to echo. This time it was actually a root. I looked up in front of me. A mixture of feelings rushed through me: Frustration because I hadn't found the Castle, and joy because in front of me stood a massive amusement park. I smiled gleefully as memories of my town's theme park flooded through me. My joy quickly faded as I remembered something: I didn't have any money. I sighed in disappointment and turned around…only to come face-to-face with Boris, Dee, and Dum.

"Tiffany, what are you doing here?" Boris said cheerfully.

I stared and said apathetically, "Don't give me that. You obviously followed me."

The twins straightened their posture, while Boris innocently asked, "Why would you think that?"

"If you were here in the first place, you would have been in front of me. So why did you follow me?"

Boris hesitated, "Well, I-"

Dum interrupted and started, "We were just about to leave the mansion earlier and we saw you fall out of a tree!"

Dee laughed, "Yeah, you fell! I had the feeling you were a klutz."

I put my hands on my cheeks to prevent myself from turning red, "Oh, you guys saw that? I thought I was being sneaky."

Boris laughed, "Don't worry, Tiffany. It was actually pretty cute."

"Yes, Tiffany is the cutest!" the twins said together and hugged me. My attempt to remain pale failed. I looked for something to say that was off the 'cute' topic.

"You know, you guys can call me 'Tiff.' When people call me Tiffany, I picture my mom yelling at me."

They all laughed. _This is ridiculous, _I thought_, It's obvious Nightmare wasn't lying._ By now the twins had released me and I glimpsed at the amusement park again. Boris grabbed my hand and led me towards it, "C'mon, 'Tiff,' it's obvious you want to go in."

"I-I-I can't. I don't have any money," I stuttered. Come to think of it, I didn't even know what currency was used in Wonderland.

"That's okay. I'm a freeloader and Gowland doesn't mind."

"Go round?" I repeated. With my head stuck on the idea of amusement parks, I added, "Like merry-go-round?"

"Yeah, you've met him already?" Boris asked seeming a little surprised.

"Him? What do you mean 'him?' The only merry-go-rounds I know about are the ones I've seen back home."

"Mary Gowland owns this amusement park."

"But don't call him by his first name," Dum chuckled, while Dee laughed in the background.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Jeez, this joke with guys being called Mary and Marian gets so old."

Boris, Dee and Dum stared in shock. Boris was the first to speak, "You don't find it funny?"

"Not really," I said quietly.

"But you have to find it funny somewhere!" Dee shouted.

"Yeah, Gowland's name is the reason he hates the boss so much!" Dum added.

Dee continued, "The boss told everyone Gowland's first name was Mary!"

I sighed again, "Nope. It's not funny in the slightest. Now if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."

I began walking back into the woods, until Boris asked, "Aren't you hungry?"

I stopped in my tracks. My stomach began growling at the mere thought of food. With all the excitement in the last day or so, I had completely forgotten about eating. "No," I paused, "I'm not hungry."

Dee peeked over my left shoulder, "Tiffany, I think you're lying."

Dum mimicked his brother, "So do I."

I shuddered. These kids were too close; I could feel them breathing down my neck. I shut my eyes, "N-no, I'm not lying. If I need food, I'll get some once I arrive at the Castle."

"You're still trying to get there?" Boris asked. He sounded a little upset.

I bit my lip and refused to look at him. If I did, I probably couldn't say no. Curse my like for cats. "Yes. I need to yell at someone."

The twins began talking excitedly, "Who is it? Who is it?"

"It must be Peter!"

"No, maybe it's the Queen!"

As expected, their conversation quickly turned into an argument. Before a repeat of yesterday occurred, I pulled them both away from each other by the collars of their shirts and commanded, "Stop arguing."

They both looked at me, innocently, "We will if you visit the amusement park with us."

"No deal."

"Okay," Dee said and they began trying to hit each other while I was restraining them.

"Fine! Fine! I'll go! Just stop acting like idiots!" I released them and took a few aggravated steps towards the park. When only Boris was next to me, I looked back at the twins.

"Does Tiffany not like us?" they asked sadly.

"W-wha? I never said that! You guys are fine, I just say insensitive things a lot! Don't take them personally. If I mean something, it'll probably be followed up with physical pain too."

They ran up and hugged me. Dum said, "I'm glad Tiffany doesn't hate us."

Dee added, "Me too!"

The two of them grabbed my hands and pulled me into the amusement park, while Boris slowly followed. I only wish I understood why he was dragging behind earlier.

**A/N: I totally used a ruler for the tree part. ;3 And I'm sorry if you like the metric system Dx**


	5. Chapter 5

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Five

Evening had arrived in the amusement park. The lights on the rides began to sparkle and made Wonderland feel like it truly was a fantasy. I had just finished gorging myself in various affordable, fried food in the park, when Boris suggested we go on some rides. I listened while munching on the remnants of a corndog. Dee shouted, "Yeah! Let's go! I want to go on the roller coaster!"

Dum argued while pointing at an immense tower, "No! I want to go on that!"

"Don't you think we should go on something a little slower? I mean, Tiffany just finished eating," Boris said, though his expression was pretty flat. He'd been pretty gloomy since I decided to go into the amusement park. He turned to look at me, "What do you think Tiff?"

I smiled at the use of my nickname, "I'm pretty good with anything. I ate two of these things once," I waved the stick the corndog had been on, "and went on a tower like the one Dum's pointing at."

The twins looked at me in surprise. Dum began, "Wow! You're really brave!"

Dee finished, "Yeah! Alice didn't like these rides much!"

I felt myself twinge at the mention of Alice and replied, "Eh, I lived within ten minutes of an amusement park at home." I guess you could call me an _Amusement Park Connoisseur,_ I added to myself. I looked at Boris and decided to humor him, "Boris is right, though. I bet if we start with the less exciting rides first, the roller coasters and towers will be even more fun."

The twins seemed to agree with me. _Thank you reversed psychology._ "So, what are we going on first?" I asked happily.

Before the twins could begin arguing again, Boris decided for us, "Let's go into the haunted house."

I took a breath to compose myself before answering, "Sure."

Boris' tail twitched as be grabbed my hand and began walking towards the haunted house. Dee and Dum were babbling about how much fun it would be inside the house. I stared at Boris' hand with mine and blushed. Why was him holding my hand different than with the twins? It was almost intimate, but it couldn't be. We barely knew each other. I closed my eyes and brushed my overactive imagination into the abyss. My hand was released, and my eyes fluttered open. We were right in front of the entrance of the haunted house. On the bright side, at least I was now hanging out with people who knew where they were going _and_ how to get there.

"Let's go," Boris said flatly as he strolled into the house. Dee and Dum followed after him, as I watched stupidly. Hesitantly, I entered. As random objects began popping out at me and making loud noises, I concluded this was the reason I hated the dark. I would jump and squeak as the suits of armor and ghouls moved with a hiss of air pressure. An unnatural _tap_ noise came from around the corner, I proceeded with caution. A figure jumped out awkwardly. I screamed and punched it. My eyes were shut tightly, until I heard a groan come from the floor.

I looked down at the figure. A familiar voice complained, "Ow, I'll remember not to do that again," he paused, "or make you angry."

"Boris!" I kneeled next to him, "Are you okay? I-I'm sorry. I'm not good with the dark and I don't like when things pop out at me."

"Yeah, I noticed," he said while rubbing his cheek.

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked helping him up.

"I think so. It's not that bad," he assured me.

He was right, I could have hit done some bad damage if I'd hit him anywhere else. I cringed at the thought of Boris with a black eye or broken nose.

I grabbed his hand, "Come on, let's go. I don't want anything else popping out at me."

He didn't budge. I took a step back to prevent myself from falling. He quickly wrapped his arm around my waist. At first I thought he was trying to steady me, but he didn't let go. I wiggled in his grip enough to face him. My eyes widened with confusion, though I didn't know if he could see me clearly or not.

Boris used the arm around my waist to pin me against him. My breathing became unsteady and my heart began racing. _What is he doing?_ He grabbed my wrist and pinned it to my side. I closed my eyes tightly. I felt him lean his face closer to mine. His breath seemed to be tickling my face. I stiffened and felt my mind go blank. Now, I could practically feel his cheek on mine. I panicked and held my breath hoping it would-

"Boris! Tiffany! Where are you?"

"She wants to be called Tiff, stupid brother."

"Well, you're the stupid, stupid brother!"

Boris' grip on me seemed to become limp, as I slipped out and walked towards the arguing twins. Slowly, Boris followed. Dum asked tauntingly, "Did you get scared Tiffany?"

I laughed, "Uh-huh. I ended up cowering in a corner until Boris came to save me." My eyes shifted to Boris. I was hoping to send him a telepathic message that asked: _What were you trying to do?_

At this, the twins seemed to notice Boris' bruised cheek. While Dum burst out laughing, Dee choked out, "What happened to your face?"

I laughed awkwardly and stared at the ground, as we walked into the sunlight. Behind me, I thought I heard one of the twins ask Boris if he got rejected. I sighed to myself: _I guess boys will be boys no matter where I am._

I walked faster and looked at the three of them playfully, "C'mon! Let's go on that roller coaster now." Maybe that would get Boris to talk to me, or at least cheer up. I lengthened my strides, I didn't want to-

"Ow," I whimpered. I had fallen to the ground after knocking into something. I looked up. A man with glasses, and auburn hair was looking down at me in confusion. He was older, and had stubble on his chin. There was one thing I was sure of, though. He was a role holder.

He looked at Boris and in a stern voice said, "Who's this? Not Alice's replacement, I hope."

With the help of Boris, I stood up, and brushed myself off. Boris put his arm around me and replied, "Nope. She's our new outsider."

I half-expected the man's face to lighten with surprise, but he looked a little angry at something. My mind began to wander: He could have been mad that Boris met me before him or that Boris had his arm around me or maybe he didn't like outsiders. Boris had said _"new_ outsider" maybe I was wrong and this man wasn't a role holder, but an outsider too. Though, Boris seemed to be taunting him. Shouldn't Boris be _in love_ with him if he was an outsider?

"This is Gowland," Boris whispered in my ear. I snapped out of my confusion and smiled awkwardly as my assumptions were all eliminated.

Gowland looked at Boris' cheek, "What happened to you? You better not have bled anywhere."

I stared and asked more to myself than anyone in particular, "You'd be angry that he was staining the floor and not that he was hurt?"

In an instant, Gowland's attention was fully on me. Once again, my topic was thrown out the window, "So, who are you, miss?"

"Tiffany, sir," I said, repressing a sigh of annoyance. Something told me I didn't want to be near this guy. He seemed kind of out there, or maybe he was just busy.

"I'm Gowland. I'm the owner of the amusement park," he gloated. _Yay, a typical 'guy self-flattery moment,' _I thought to myself, sarcastically.

"You're very lucky then. When I was little, I used to want to own one," I stated as my eyes focused on the violin he was holding. It looked pretty oddly shaped, but remembering my neighbor, Robyn, and her electric violin, it didn't seem so strange. I pointed to the violin curiously, "You play?"

Gowland smiled brightly, "Of course! Would you like to hear?"

"Sure," I said, smiling a little. I felt as if Boris and the twins had grown incredibly still. I turned to ask, as Gowland prepared to play. "Why are-" A screeching noise erupted that was more painful than ten people scratching a chalkboard at once. I covered my ears and looked at Gowland. He was singing cheerfully while _playing_ his violin. My mind seemed to turn into a broken record itself. Repetitively asking, _How can a violin even make those sounds? _As my eyes started tearing from the painful sound, a shout cancelled Gowland's despicable concert.

"Hey, Gowland! Quit the racket! You're late again!" I heard a vaguely familiar voice shout angrily behind me. I turned and gasped. A panic swept over me. That was Elliot! He was approaching the group with a role holder in a top hat, which I assumed was Blood. I noticed Boris had turned to see who was calling as well. I took the opportunity to hide behind him.

"What are you hiding for?" I heard Boris ask me.

A random excuse popped into my head, "I'm not presentable."

He seemed perplexed, "Why not?"

"Have you noticed my sleeves are red and blotchy? They weren't always like this," I snapped back. I felt a little bad. It seemed my words always turned into daggers at the worst times.

At this time, Elliot was yelling at the twins for slacking off and forgetting they had to negotiate territory today. Or at least it was something close to that. They defended themselves and said that they wanted to get here early. Gowland seemed annoyed as well, but it must have been that his _music_ was interrupted.

Boris whispered, "Follow me."

As a crowd of people passed by, he pulled me back towards the haunted house. I followed without hesitation. I didn't want to meet Blood, yet, if not ever. Just his name made me afraid of him.

Boris and I finally settled somewhere in the middle of the haunted house. We were in a corner where nothing would pop out on us and it was impossible to hear the hissing air. I couldn't help but ask, "Boris, how did you know there was a nice, quiet place in here?"

"Well, Gowland's always losing his temper and likes to take it out on me. So I need to find somewhere to hide, don't I?" I could tell from his tone he was smiling.

I looked at the floor, though he probably couldn't tell, "I'm sorry for snapping at you back there. I get nervous pretty easily."

"It's fine, but while we're apologizing, I'm sorry for scaring you back there."

"You didn't scare me. I was just…confused." Really, he had scared me a little bit, but telling him that would probably just make this worse right now.

I could tell he was surprised, "Why confused?"

"It seemed like you wanted to tell me something. I mean, you waited for me in here, regardless of how playful you acted. Then, when I pulled you to leave you didn't budge. Even when you were restraining me, your lips were at my ear; you wanted to say something," I felt as if he was staring at me. I pulled my legs in close and wrapped my arms around them, "I'm sorry. I probably sound like an ass for assuming so much."

"No, you're right. I just forgot what I was going to tell you," he laughed.

_Figures_, I thought apathetically. I decided to change the topic before it got too quiet, "How long do you think it'll be before Blood and Gowland leave?"

"Probably only a few minutes. Unless, Blood pisses Gowland off again," he sighed, "Then we might be here for a while, not that I mind."

"Oh, I was hoping to find a change of clothes or something. I'm beginning to realize how stiff these sleeves are getting."

Boris burst out laughing, "You wouldn't want to get any clothes here. One time, Alice wanted to cheer Julius up, so she bought some clothes and souvenirs here. It was hysterical."

Earlier, I had noticed people walking around with giant mouse ears and paws on. I pictured Alice in the attire and couldn't help, but laugh as well. Though, my laughter quickly died as a question popped into my head, "Boris," I started, "yesterday you put a gun to my head. Why?"

His laughter subsided in an instant, "I thought the same as Gowland. I was worried you were her replacement."

"Why 'worried?' To me, Alice is despicable. I don't understand," my voice trailed off.

I pictured Boris smiling sadly, he might have even been frowning, "We all loved her here. Some of us loved her as a friend," he paused, "and some of us loved her more than that. When Alice could have gone home and left us, she didn't. She said she wanted to stay here forever as a member of Wonderland. At least, that's what Blood told us. I think he manipulated her somehow, but I guess I'll never know." His voice had lowered into a whisper.

I stared into the dark as Boris' words sunk into my soul. _So she had made a choice in haste. I couldn't afford to do that, then, not if there was a chance I could end up as cruel as she is, _I thought. I snapped back into reality. Boris hadn't said anything since he finished speaking. He hadn't moved; it didn't even seem like he was breathing. With all the courage in my body, I hugged him. Not a hug that told him, I love him or that I wanted to make him forget this memory. I gave him a hug of comfort, of friendship. It was a hug that was kind of like a truce between me and this country. I whispered, while holding back tears, "Don't worry. She'll get better, I promise. I'll find a way. Just promise me you'll never let the memory eat at you like this. I know from experience, it doesn't fix anything. It just wills you to stop trying, to sit in the corner of a room and gain dust. Don't give up. I'll make sure no one ever makes the same mistake. I'll make sure Blood doesn't manipulate anymore outsiders."

Finally, Boris' stiff body hugged back. I wondered if he was crying, but I knew better than to ask. For all I know, his tears could have run dry long ago. He released me; I followed his example. We sat together in silence. After what seemed like an eternity, Boris finally spoke; it was a low whisper, "I remembered what I need to tell you."

My posture straightened in surprise, "Really? What is it?"

"You keep mentioning you have to go to the Castle. Whatever you do, don't fall for any of Peter's tricks and don't underestimate him. He may appear a lovesick rabbit to you, but he's dangerous."

I began to wonder how Peter could be dangerous at all. Then I remembered the two shots he fired at Ace. I frowned, "Yeah. Thinking back he did try to kill someone," there were a few beats of silence, "Boris, do you think it's safe to go out now?"

I thought I heard him jolt in surprise, "Yeah, sure."

Somehow in the dark, he managed to find my hand and helped me up. "Thanks," I muttered. I was kind of getting tired of the lady treatment. It was as if nobody thought I could handle myself.

As Boris and I exited the house, nothing jumped out at us. Everything was still. Boris'voice was the only thing to startle me, "Looks like we stayed here longer than expected."

"Yeah, the ride's shut down," I said, looking around. Leaving the haunted house, I noticed the moon was high in the sky. I frowned, "Looks like it's around midnight, not that it matters."

In the moonlight I saw Boris' ears perk up, "Maybe you should spend the night here."

I nodded. I was tired; there was no reason to fuss. Besides, I'd be far away from Blood and close to the only person I trusted here; Boris. After a few minutes, we entered a large building and I was walked to a guest room. Boris smiled, "If you need anything, I'm right next door," he kissed my forehead, "Goodnight, Tiff."

I nodded and blushed. As he turned to walk away, I grabbed his wrist, "Wait, Boris!"

He turned around alertly, "What is it?"

I scratched his ear and saw him relax. I laughed; his expression was too cute. "I promised yesterday, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess you did," he smiled back.

"Good night," I chimed as I turned to my room. I whispered, "Sweet dreams."


	6. Chapter 6

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Six

For some reason, tonight I drifted calmly into unconsciousness. There were no fears or tremors, just a peaceful sleep. Throughout the night, my subconscious was expecting to talk with Nightmare and understand the ways of Wonderland. Instead, I was given visions of my mother frantically searching for me within the new house's garden. She was screaming my name and on the verge of tears. It hurt to see her in such a state, even if it was just a dream. I had only seen my mom cry twice: first, when I locked myself in a room and declared I wouldn't come out until my parents accepted I loved with someone three years older than me and the time I tried to tell her I was violated as I child, but couldn't find the courage to give her a specific description. Neither of those reasons mattered now, though. Wasn't I going to be stuck here?

After a repetitive night of my mother tirelessly searching, my eyes opened. I looked around the room. It seemed to be about sunrise, or maybe sunset. Time changed so abruptly here, I still wasn't sure. Maybe if I had been able to talk to Nightmare, I would know by now.

Sitting on the dresser across the room, was just what I wanted, some fresh clothes. I quickly got changed into the black button-down shirt and black slacks, remembering to slip the vial and the velvet bag into a pocket of the pants. I laughed. They were obviously too big for me, I assumed they were Boris'. After rolling up the sleeves and pant legs, I assumed I was practically presentable. I sat back on the bed and wondered what I would do today. I gasped. During my trip to the amusement park, I had _completely_ forgotten what I was doing before I ended up there! I was trying to get to the Castle. I stood up and ran out of the room. As I ran out of the building and through the amusement park, I asked an eyeless person which direction the Castle was. She answered me quickly and politely. I thanked her, though I was slightly surprised she was still able to see without any eyes.

I exited the amusement park and began my _real_ journey to the Castle. Time seemed to pass quickly and I eventually found myself at the glorious castle from two days ago. I ignored the guards and walked right through the Castle doors. There was a large balcony and upon it was a throne, but the entire hall was empty aside from a few maids. I tapped one on the shoulder.

She stood up straight and looked at me, her mouth was a frown, "I'm sorry, Alice, but the Queen is in the garden for tea right now."

My cheeks turned red, "I-I'm not Alice, and I'm-um-looking for Peter."

"Hm? Not Alice?" she paused. Her eyebrows were furrowed; she appeared to be confused.

"No, ma'am. I'm," internally I sighed, "Wonderland's new outsider."

"That's wonderful! Come along, I'll show you to the Queen. She has been expecting you."

I followed the woman. _I can't believe I get better treatment as little miss outsider than Alice or myself_, my mind complained. The maid led me through the garden Ace and I had earlier escaped. She stopped a few feet from a table and bowed to the Queen. She then exited, rather quickly.

"Who are you?" the Queen asked sternly. I glanced at her. She was rather beautiful. She had dark, curly hair and a glorious red dress; although, it got hard to breathe just thinking about how tight her corset must be.

I softly cleared my throat, "I'm Tiffany, your Majesty, the new outsider."

"Yes, Peter has told us about you. We are the Queen of Hearts, but you may call us Vivaldi." _Great_, I thought apathetically, _this woman speaks in majestic plural. It's almost as bad as reading __Anthem__ all over again._ "Would you join us for tea? Evening is our favorite time."

"Yes," my words were clipped because of how nervous I was. I'd never been in the presence of someone who was legitimately royalty. I walked to the empty seat closest to me.

"No," Vivaldi said in an almost harsh voice, "Sit next to me."

I nodded and sat in the chair a butler pulled out for me next to the Queen. "Thank you," I said to him, though it could have been a response to Vivaldi as well.

"What are you wearing, dear? It's awfully unsuitable for a lady."

"I don't think so," I smiled. "At home, this is how I usually dress."

"You came to Wonderland like that?"

"No, ma'am," I held back a giggle. Though she was a figure of authority, her constantly strict voice, and bored expression was amusing. "I was originally in a dress."

"Then let us get you another dress," Vivaldi stood suddenly, her tea now forgotten. She pulled me up by my wrist and began dragging me back towards the Castle.

_Awfully touchy for a queen,_ I thought.

After walking through a few hallways, Vivaldi stopped at a door. She opened it and pulled me in. It was a room full of dresses and gowns. I stared, curiously. They were all so beautiful, ranging in colors from red to purple to green to orange. "Pick one out. It will be your gift for visiting the Castle today."

I wondered why Vivaldi wasn't harassing me for a gift like Alice had, but decided I'd rather just pick out a dress like she had told me. I smiled, "Thank you."

She smiled back, and looked out the window. "Night has fallen. You're welcome to stay with us at the Castle."

"Thanks again," I said politely as I picked out a black, knee length dress along with some black lace up boots, "but I still need to visit the clock tower."

"Nonsense, you may do that tomorrow."

Deciding it was best not to argue with a queen, I agreed. After I changed into my new outfit (and slid my pocket contents into the top of my boots), she led me to a guest room. Again, I was surprised. She was a queen; shouldn't she have a maid escorting me?

We abruptly halted at a door, "This will be your room. Good night."

I hesitated, "Vivaldi, if you don't mind me asking, do you have any idea where Peter is?"

She looked at me with a hint of surprise, "He left looking for you before our tea party began. He thought he might find you at the Hatter's."

"Ah, that's too bad," _I really wanted to scream at him_, "I guess I'll have to speak to him some other time." I opened the door of the room, "Good night, Vivaldi."

Promptly after entering the room, I closed the door and sat against it. I placed Boris's clothes next to me. I sighed, "Crap. I finally found my way over here and Peter's out looking for me." I put my hand on my forehead, "Oh well, like Vivaldi said, I'll be able to do more tomorrow," I groaned, "but I'm not even tired!"

The door opened and my upper body fell out, into the hallway. My least favorite voice chimed, "Tiffany! I found you! I thought I heard your voice," Peter looked up thoughtfully, "At first, I believed I was imagining things, but I heard you say my name and I knew it had to be you!"

He scooped me up into his arms and twirled around. I held my hands close to my chest. My instincts wanted me to wrap my arms around his neck for support, but that would just egg him on. Sternly, I said, "Let go of me, you creep."

He seemed completely oblivious to what I had said, "I'm so happy to see you! I noticed you have a different dress!"-_I noticed you're still touchy-feely-_"You're so cute like a little doll."-_So people I actually did think I was like a doll-_"You came to visit! That must mean you love me! I love you, too!"

Peter began leaning his face closer to mine. _Oh, no you don't._ I was just flexible enough to knee him in the cheek. It didn't do much, but it was a movement awkward enough that I was able to roll out of his grip. I crouched in the doorway.

He looked at me sadly, "Tiffany, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

My reply was little more than a glare.

"Will you promise to stay with me here?"

I gave him a look of disbelief, "I've seen you, what, twice? And you're asking me to stay here? With you?"

He nodded, happily.

"No."

"But, Tiffany, why not?" he said in shock.

"I don't know you and I don't like you!"

Before my eyes, Peter turned into the tiny white rabbit he was when I first met him, "Please will you stay with me?"

I sighed. His ears perked up. I smirked, "Y'know, I kicked you when I first saw you as a rabbit, I'll kick you again."

Peter looked at me sadly, "Please stay with me; I'll always be a rabbit for you if you'd like me better this way. Alice preferred me this way, and I was hoping you would too."

I steadily glared at him, "I like rabbits, but not white ones," I smirked again, "Back home, my mom has a fur coat made out of you."

I was beginning to get annoyed with his constant puppy dog eyes. I didn't even need to mention how sick I was of being compared to Alice. That was a given.

Still animals bore me. I kicked at him. Instantly, Peter turned back into a human and deflected my kick. I took a step back. His gaze was steady, "Why don't you like me, Tiffany?"

"You're creepy and can turn into a bunny. Those are all the reasons I need." I took a step closer to my room, "I'm going to bed. Good night." I began to pull the door shut, but Peter caught held it open slightly. I glared through the remaining space, "Don't make me break your fingers. I've played this game with my brother too many times."

I tried to force the door to close another six inches, but Peter held it tightly. Suddenly, he yanked the door open. I stumbled and the momentum pulled me into Peter's arms. I groaned and tried to escape, but he held me tightly. He whispered sadly, "Please, stay with me, Tiffany. If you can't do that, at least tell me who you've fallen in love with." As he spoke, the metronome within his chest kept a beat.

"What?" I was confused, "'Fallen in love with?' I'm not in love with anyone here! The only person I love isn't in this country!"

"Please, stay. I'll do anything for you to make you love me," his voice continued to sound upset.

I stopped struggling for a moment, but before his words could sink in, I remember what Boris had told me: _Don't fall for any of Peter's tricks and don't underestimate him_. I began squirming against Peter again. _If I could just get my elbow against his gut, I'd be out of this in no time._ Sadly, my arms were braced against Peter's chest from my earlier stumble.

"Please, Tiffany, I love you. I'm begging you."

My eyes widened; I remembered why I wanted to come here in the first place. I remember what I needed to tell Peter. I pushed against him, "Let me go! I need to say something!"

"Then go ahead and talk," Peter invited me happily.

"I can't," I complained, "Everything I say is muffled! I can't even hear myself!"

His grip loosened and I pushed myself away from him and sat on the floor. I scooted back into my room. Peter was smiling at me, as if he really wanted to hear what I was going to say. I felt myself getting flustered. I hate it when people look at me when I'm trying to say something that's difficult. I started, "I-I'm…I'm…I'll never love you!" I blurted out. Inside, I smacked myself. _I'm such a coward! _I put my hands over my face for failing so badly.

"You really don't understand, do you?" Peter's voice had gotten closer, but the way he was speaking was as if he were another person. He pulled my wrists and I fell backwards. He pinned them to the floor, over my head. I was trapped! I knew how to prevent these situations and what to do when it had gone too far, but for now I was helpless. I sat completely still, "If games weren't challenging they wouldn't be fun."

"Well me not being about to move is definitely _not_ fun," I snapped back.

He smiled darkly, "So tell me: what do you really want to say?"

I bit my lip and said nothing. The pressure of the situation was beginning to get to me. Most likely, he wouldn't release me until I told him the truth. I took a deep, unsteady breath, "I'm staying in Wonderland-" Peter's ears perked up and his expression lightened "-not as a resident, but as a visitor, an outsider."

"That's great!" he smiled and hugged me, acting like the happy rabbit again. "I'm so glad you're staying!"

I tried to push him away, thankful at least that my wrists were free, "I'm not done yet! I'm only staying here so you don't torture anymore helpless girls!"

Peter released me and replied with a cautious silence.

As I stood up I explained, "Alice is hurt. She doesn't want to stay here," I paused, "and I don't want anyone else to ever make a mistake like that."

As Peter backed away from the entrance, he looked at me curiously, "Tiffany, since you're staying here, will you make me a promise?"

I thought for a moment. I couldn't really understand how he was suddenly completely fine. One second he was practically threatening me, and the next he was peppy. I said cautiously, "Only if you make me one."

He smiled, "Promise you'll visit me every once in a while."

I stuck out my tongue, "Fine-" _I'm going to need something to do if I ever get bored_. "-but you need to promise you won't lure anyone else down here. The only people who find Wonderland, are going to do it by themselves."

"Agreed," Peter was still smiling, "because I'm going to have my Tiffany with me forever!" He rushed towards me and hugged me.

I sighed, "I'm not a possession! Let me go! I have to go to the Clocktower! I still haven't met Julius!"

Peter obeyed and asked, "Can I at least walk you there?"

"No," I said stubbornly, "Just point in the direction I have to go. Be happy I talked to you at all."

He looked at little sad, but continued smiling anyway, "Fine, when you leave the Castle, just stay on the main path."

I nodded, "Thank you," I said as I picked up Boris' clothes. _I'm sorry Peter. I understand why you brought me here. You didn't want to feel sad about Alice anymore. _I was beginning to realize everyone in Wonderland had suffered the same blow I had; their one love had turned towards a different person. They were just like me.

Surprisingly, I had found my way out of the Castle without much trouble. As I walked out, I realized the sun was out. I smiled, the warmth felt nice on my face.

Finally, the trees began thinning out and I got a glimpse of the Clocktower. I smiled, _So this was the place I entered Wonderland_.

"_Ow!_"a girl's voice screamed from inside the Clocktower. I sprinted the last three-hundred feet between the tower and I, and burst through the door. Slightly panting, I observed the scene. A man with long blue-violet hair was holding a clock and looking at a blonde girl, with disapproval. The girl with long, curly hair was looking down at a cut on her hand; I couldn't see her face.

"W-what's going on here?" I asked, trying to sound composed, "I heard a scream. Are you okay?" I looked at the girl.

She lifted her face from the wound and looked at me through shocked blue eyes. I gasped, _WHAT WAS SHE DOING HERE?_ My eyes shifted wildly looking at the girl. This was definitely Caitlin. My breath seemed to be failing me. I felt my body heating up with anger. I had just declared I'd be living here, yet _she_ was already messing it up!

"Who are you?" the man asked me, sternly.

"I'm Tiffany. You must be Julius," I hesitated.

"Yes, I'm Julius," he said taking off his glasses, "So you're the outsider everyone's talking about. For a while, I was concerned you were this girl." He explained, pointing at Caitlin.

I smirked, "Why did that concern you?"

"She managed to cut herself while grinding coffee beans," Julius said miserably.

I burst out laughing. I always knew Caitlin was accident-prone, but never this badly. My laughter died as I remembered she was here. I glared, "Why are you here, Caitlin?"

She looked down for a few moments. Sadly, she admitted, "Everyone was worried about you. You've been missing for days! My mom and I drove here to help look for you! Everyone in school is worried too." She ran up and hugged me, while in tears, "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Okay," I said flatly. I didn't return her embrace, "Go home. Tell everyone I'm okay. Don't come back."

She released me and stared in shock, "Why not?"

"I don't want you here! This is the one place I can be happy. Just go back to your world. It's more of a fairytale for you there than it will be here."

Caitlin glowered at me, "Why are you being such a bitch?"

I felt my temper snap, "Because you're happy and now you're ruining my happiness! Just-"

"If you two are going to scream, go outside," Julius ordered.

I stopped everything: my talking, my thinking, even my blinking. I stared intently at Caitlin for what seemed like an hour. In the end, I walked out of the tower. The moment the door slammed, I ran through the woods crying.

_She had everything I ever wanted. She was tall, she was pretty, she could dance, she had Jon, and now, she even had Wonderland._


	7. Chapter 7

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Seven

_She had everything I ever wanted. She was tall, she was pretty, she could dance, she had Jon, and now, she even had Wonderland._

I ran blindly through the forest. I didn't stop until my throat burned and I had to cough. I supported myself against a tree. My coughs became sobs. Quickly, I punched the tree. Then, I punched it again. I continued to beat the tree, feeling the bark grinding into my skin and the pain becoming numb. Once I couldn't feel my knuckles and I could no longer distinguish what was bark and what was blood, I stopped. I ripped the sleeves of Boris' shirt off and wrapped my hands with them. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the tree. _Why did she have to come here? Why now? She'll ruin everything._

After a long silence, I felt the sun sink behind the horizon. Crickets began chirping. A twig snapped; I didn't care. I hoped it would be something that wanted to kill me. "Tiffany? What are you doing here in the dark?"

I looked over. It was Ace. I assumed he was lost again.

He sat next to me, "Tiffany, if you're going to be out here all night, you should at least stay with me in my tent."

I shook my head. I felt emptier the more he talked.

The concern in his voice was obvious, "Why not?"

I remained silent. _I don't want you here. I want to be left alone. That might make me feel better_, though I knew it was a lie.

He leaned closer, "At least talk to me."

I pushed him away with my forearm and stood up. One of my makeshift dressings fell onto Ace's lap. He stared at it, while I began walking in the direction he came. Ace was left alone in silence. I would have felt bad, but nothing would be able to save me from a state of depression. I wandered aimlessly in the same direction at a sluggish pace only to emerge at the Hatter's mansion. As I looked at the building, I felt lightheaded. Maybe they would let me stay the night. Before I could get three steps within the gate, I was hugged by the twins.

"Tiff!" they both giggled.

I looked at them with a distant expression.

"Tiff?" Dee asked.

"Tiffany, are you okay?" Dum continued.

I shook my head. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.

"Let's get her inside," I heard a voice from the entrance of the mansion state. Dee and Dum agreed and escorted me through the halls of the mansion. We walked behind the man in the top hat I thought was Blood. I was brought into a large, dining-room like hall and told to sit at a table. The twins helped me into the closest seat. Blood said, "You two may go."

"But we want to stay with Tiffany!" Dum argued.

"Yeah, we want to make sure she feels better!" Dee agreed.

"Go," Blood ordered. This time, they both obeyed and exited the hall. I was left sitting alone for some time. I stared at the table, memorizing the patterns in the wood and wondering how someone I used to love so much now made me feel like I had holes drilled through my chest. I sat up straight, as a footstep echoed across the hall. The hatter sat across from me. He had brought two cups and a teapot. I stared absently as he poured the tea. He pushed a cup to me, "So, you're Tiffany, Wonderland's new outsider. I'm Blood Dupre. You realize I've gotten quite impatient waiting to meet you."

I nodded, though I still stared at the table.

"Drink," he ordered, as he pushed the cup closer to me. I lifted it, though I need to use more force than anticipated due to my battered hands. I didn't care much for the taste of the tea, but the warmth made me feel a little better. I felt his stare criticizing my puffy eyes and blood covered knuckles. Blood's eyes seemed to dance with amusement, "What happened to your hands?"

"I beat up a tree," I informed him.

"We should have Alice look at them."

"Maybe later," I said flatly and took another sip of tea. I examined his expression. Blood was definitely the person Alice had chosen, there wasn't even a hint of sorrow as he mentioned her. So, I had finally met Wonderland's version of Caitlin.

"You're staring at me," Blood smirked.

My gaze shifted to the table, "You remind me of someone." It took too much effort to keep myself from apologizing.

"Really?" he questioned. He seemed genuinely surprised, "When Alice met me she mentioned the same thing. She told me she had loved someone who looked like me."

Even without looking at him, I could imagine a cocky expression on his face. He was hoping I'd be all over him too, didn't he? He hoped he would have another doll at his disposal, another chance to be more powerful than the rest of Wonderland.

I looked up thoughtfully, "That's a little ironic. There are only a few differences," I counted off on my fingers, "First, it's your personality that reminds me of someone. And second, right now I'm close to hating that person."

Blood placed his empty teacup upon the table, "What about me reminds you of this certain person? What's he like?"

It was my turn to smirk, "It's a she, actually. What you two have in common is that you're both filthy puppeteers."

"Puppeteers? I don't-"

My temper snapped like a mouse trap. I cut him off and shouted, "Yes, puppeteers! You manipulate a person whom someone else is in love with and then make that person your own! You leave everyone else in a sea of self-pity and stand on your pedestal without a care in the world! You're a bloody, selfish cur! And if you're still curious to meet said puppeteer don't worry! I've gotten news she's fallen down a rabbit hole! Thank you for the tea!" I slammed my cup on the table, pushed in my chair and stomped out of the hall.

I didn't care that I might have just set myself up for a miserable time in Wonderland. Blood was the man who caused everyone else's pain! If I was the only person brave enough to tell him the truth, I would accept my consequences.

I heard footsteps run around the nearest corner, the twins were shouting, "Tiffany! Tiff!"

They appeared from around the corner and hugged me. I felt a smile creep across my face, "Hey, you two."

Dum smiled brightly, "Are you feeling better now?"

Dee laughed, "Yeah, especially after you yelled at the boss!"

In reality, I did feel better. Blood had given me the perfect opportunity to relieve some stress. Though, admitting this to the twins would probably cause more problems for me later on. Instead, I playfully pretended to be disappointed in them, "You guys were listening to that? Tsk, tsk," I said while waggling a finger. We all paused to look at my hands, "Dee, Dum, do you think you can bring me to see Alice again? I think these injuries are too severe for me to handle alone."

They stared. Dee asked, "Are you sure?"

"You're not still afraid from last time are you?"

I smiled, "No. I think I've come to an understanding with her. Though, I haven't been able to tell her yet."

This time, as we walked through the immense halls, I paid attention to where we were headed. I wanted to know how to get to Alice's room, but also how to get out. Again, the curtain blocking the door was opened and we slipped inside the lovely, circular room.

Alice looked up from her tea, "Back again, I see. Are you here to offend me again, Tiffany?"

"No, Alice," I smiled, "Actually, I wanted to repay you for my last visit."

I put my hand into my sock and pulled out a small, velvet bag. I walked to Alice's tea table and handed it to her. She looked at it curiously, "What's in it?"

I smiled, "A reminder of home." Alice opened the bag and looked at the five stones: purple, green, orange, pink and black. A twinge of pain spread in my chest. I whispered, "Someone very special gave me those. Please take care of them."

Alice put the stones in her hand, "I forgot that world was colorful too." She looked at me with tears in her eyes, "Thank you, Tiffany. You don't know what this means to me." I watched her carefully put the stones away like a child who didn't want to lose any pieces of a puzzle. Even with the stones, she looked so sad and abused. I frowned, there had to be some way to wake her up from her sorrows.

I sat down next to her and smiled sheepishly, "Hey Alice, do you think you can fix my hands for me?" I lifted up my bloodied hands, though one was still wrapped in a sleeve.

She gave me a shocked look, and said in a voice similar to a concerned older sister, "What did you do to yourself?"

"I beat up a tree," I smiled.

Alice sighed, "I think the tree is the one who did the beating."

Dee and Dum exchanged a look, "Tiffany! When your hands are better, come to our room!" With that, they exited the room.

Compared to the last time Alice dressed my wounds, it was much less mechanical. It was as if she were fixing them for more reasons than that I asked her. It was strange. Last time, she acted almost like a happy zombie.

I looked at the clean, exposed wound, "Wow, the cuts are really small. I wonder why they made such a mess."

She said matter-of-factly, "It's probably because you didn't stop hitting the tree right away."

I smiled. She really was like an older sister. "Alice," I started, "do you think you can show me where Dee and Dum's room is?"

She looked at me with a worried expression, "I don't think I can," I was about to ask why, but she continued, "I haven't left here in so long. Someone might try to get me replaced."

I stared at her in confusion, "Why would someone want to hurt you? I've talked to everyone; they all love you."

"I was told they're all upset with me," she forced her gaze to stay on my hands.

"That's silly, they're only upset that they haven't seen you in so long. Where would you get an idea like that?"

"I-I'm not sure," she blushed, "I can't remember."

"Are you sure you didn't just make it up?" I smiled; she looked pretty when she was flustered. It was understandable why she would be so loved. Also, when she was being _herself_ compared to the zombie-Alice, she was very kind and sweet. But she worried me. Had she honestly convinced herself everyone would be disappointed in her? I know I had done it before.

"All done," Alice smiled.

"Thank you!" I said excitedly. I open and closed my fists, "It doesn't even hurt that much anymore!" I grabbed Alice's hand and began dragging her towards the hallway, "Let's go!" At first she resisted, but I think she realized I wasn't going to hurt her. I smiled at her, "Don't worry. Just show me to the twins' room and then you can go back."

Alice nodded and began leading me through the halls. It was only a minute or two before we arrived at Dee and Dum's door. I smiled at Alice, "Thank you, again."

"You're very welcome," she said smiling back. I watched as she continued down the hall in the opposite direction of her room.

"Alice," I stared, "Where are you going?"

She looked at me with a glowing expression, "I'm going to the kitchen. Coffee sounds very good right now. Would you like any?"

I laughed, "No thanks. I don't drink coffee."

"Suit yourself," she said, as she disappeared around the corner.

I entered the boys' room only to be bombarded with questions. Not only were Dee and Dum pestering me, but so was Elliot! Everything they said sounded like mush. I raised a hand and they quieted themselves. I looked around, feeling like I was in an unorganized interview, "One person at a time or else it sounds like gibberish."

Dum took the opportunity to ask a question first, "How did you make Alice do that?"

I blinked a few times, "Do what? She wasn't zombie-like today, but I don't think it had anything to do with me."

Elliot continued, "But it did! Alice hasn't said anything original in a long time! She hasn't left that room in forever!"

I thought about how Alice was walking to the kitchen now, "Once I convinced her to escort me here, she didn't seem like she'd been in there that long." They all stared at me curiously.

Dee shouted, "You got her out of her room?"

I nodded, "Uh-huh. She's in the kitchen getting coffee right now." The three of them charged for the door; I blocked it, "'ey! Don't you guys think?" I snapped, "If she hasn't been out of her room for that long, she won't want anyone harassing her! Let her be left alone for a while. Besides, she told me she was scared of getting attacked. She thinks you guys want to _replace her!_"

The trio stared, dumbstruck. Dum looked concerned, "W-why would anyone want to hurt Alice?"

Dee continued, "Yeah, all she's ever done was make everyone here happy."

Elliot was silent, deep in thought. "Elliot," I said, "you know something about this."

It wasn't really a question, but he answered it anyway, "Yes, when Alice was still an outsider, she felt herself growing attached to everyone in Wonderland, but she began getting lost. Figuring this world was only a dream, she was originally going to leave. Though, one day, someone approached her. He told her that she had a lost heart and that her memories of her world were 'different' than what she really thought. Nobody really understood back then."

He looked down silently. There was obviously something he wasn't telling me. I glanced at the twins; they both had pained expressions as well. All of them knew something I didn't about Alice, but I did plan to find out. I hesitated, "Do you guys think you can talk to me more about this in a day or two?"

The three of them exchanged glances. The twins seemed to be looking at Elliot for help. He explained, "Tiffany, it's not that we don't want to. We can't tell you anymore."

Dum added, "We promised Alice."

Dee shouted, "Yeah because she-"

Elliot began shouting, "Hey! Don't you two remember what Blood said when he warned you about this?"

The twins exchanged a wary glance. They latched onto me and cowered. Dee whined, "Tiff, help us! The Newbie Hare is being scary!"

"Something tells me you guys are melodramatic," I sighed.

"No really! Look at him! He wants to hurt us!"

"What?" Elliot shouted, "Really, Tiffany! I wasn't going to hurt them, I promise! Forgive me!"

"W-wha?" I stuttered, "Why are you so worked about this?"

Elliot looked at me through pained eyes, "I don't want you to hate me."

"Eh?" I blinked to clear my head, "If you must know, Elliot, I don't hate anything: people, animals, bugs, et cetera. In fact, I like you," I smiled, "You seem fun."

The sun popped up in the sky, as Elliot replied; "I like you too!" he mockingly looked at the twins, "See? I told you she thought I was better!"

_When did I say anyone was better?_ I thought to myself. I yawned. I hadn't realized how tired I was. I rubbed my eyes, "Hey, guys, do you think I could sleep here for a while?"

"Yeah!" Dee shouted, gleefully.

"Follow us, before the Newbie Hare realizes you like us better!" The two of them grabbed my hands and rushed me out of the room.

As Dee and Dum were pulling me down hallway, I asked, "Where are we even going?"

They responded in unison, "To find Alice!"

"W-what?," I gasped, "I swear, you guys are going to freak her out! Just let her be!"

They abruptly stopped running and I crashed into them. Dum turned and shushed me. The twins looked around the corner. I wondered what was going on. I sat down next to the intersection and peered down the hall. _It was Alice and Blood!_

Blood was holding Alice in his arms. They looked like they were having a moment. I felt like a pervert for watching the scene. Even so, I wished I could hear what they were saying. The couple appeared to be talking in hushed voices. Out of nowhere, Blood began kissing Alice. At first, she resisted, but then she kissed him back.

_We need to leave_, _this is creepy_. I looked at the twins. Their expressions seemed to be a mix of jealousy and curiosity. I grabbed their hands and began pulling them back towards their room.

"Wait!" they began protesting through whispered, "I want to see what happens!"

"Me too!"

I turned and looked at them, "Why would you want to do that? It's strange and unusual!"

They both gave me a grin, "We might learn something."

"That's it!" I smacked both of them, "You're kids! Cleanse your minds! You two probably know worse things than I do!"

I turned and began stomping back towards Alice's room. Dee and Dum shouted, "Wait! Tiffany, we don't have to be kids if you don't want us to!"

"How is that even possible?" I asked as I turned back around. I stared. The two of them had turned into _adults._ I shouted, "W-what the-? _Does puberty only exist in my world?_" My mind began running in circles. I was extremely confused. It made sense that Peter could change into a rabbit, I mean, he had rabbit ears. Though, Dee and Dum were _just Dee and Dum!_

I snapped back to reality as I felt warmth touch me. Internally I smacked myself. The new Dee and Dum had sandwiched me in between them. I shut my eyes. _Too close!_ There were quite a few flaws with me panicking: First, I had become rigid and dropped my guard. Second, Dum was getting way too close to my face. And third, Dee's face was buried in my neck. My whole body heated up and my breathing became uneasy. Moving my arms was no use, they were pinned to my sides. _Sorry guys,_I thought, _but I can't let this get any further_. I kneed Dum in the groin. He released me and I was able to elbow Dee in the gut. I sprinted, with the sounds of their groans fading away.

I ran through the halls and searched for Alice's room. After the many twists and turns, I brushed the curtain away, opened the door and sat against the nearest wall (I had learned my lesson about sitting against doors from Peter). I pulled my legs close to me and rested my head against them. I needed sleep, but I was too worked up after what had just happened. The twins were supposed to be ten years old! How could they become adults at will? Jeez, it was so wrong, and confusing. Even worse, after they'd gone through puberty in two seconds, they'd begun acting like pigs.

Maybe with some sleep, things would start making sense. After a few deep breaths, my eyelids began to droop. My body must have remembered I needed to rest.


	8. Chapter 8

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Eight

I opened my eyes and was greeted by familiar blobs of color. I was dreaming again. My eyes wandered until I spotted Nightmare. Instantly, I smiled and tackled him. "Nightmare!" I chimed. Unfortunately, he coughed and spat up blood. I released him and sat up. I blushed, "Sorry, I forgot you were sick and I'm kinda touchy when I'm half-asleep," I paused and furrowed my brow, "or in this case, asleep."

He nodded and began wiping his mouth with my ripped sleeve. I smiled and thought, _Why would he keep something so meaningless? It's cute, like a little kid._

I pushed my half-asleep, happy thoughts away, "Nightmare, I need to talk to you about a few things." I thought about the best way to approach it. Deciding it was best to start with the least important question, I asked, "Time changes randomly right? It can be night then evening then noon then evening again?"

Nightmare gave me a look of disappointment, "It's taken you this long to realize that?"

I frowned and said sarcastically, "Well, sorry, I've spent most of my time indoors and unable to see the sky." I sighed, "Anyway, why is Caitlin here?"

"Caitlin?"

My temper began rising again. I tried to contain myself, "Yeah, she said people realized I was 'missing' so she and her mom drove to my house. Then she fell down the rabbit hole," I paused, "And now she's here." I avoided eye-contact. I didn't want him to realize her presence hurt.

He sighed, "Are you sure she's not just genuinely worried about you?"

"Of course she isn't! She has all her friends back home!-" and Jon, "-Why would she want anything to do with me anymore? I mean, they say things should go out with a 'bang,' but that doesn't mean I have to feel like a suicide bomber!" I put my head in my hands; I was saying too much.

As usual, my problems were ignored. Nightmare asked curiously, "Why are you sleeping in the middle of the day?"

"I had a party last night," I started sarcastically, "It ended with me getting my hands bandaged and peeping on Alice."

As I revealed my face again, he asked, "What did you do to your hands?"

I flatly answered with _Rehearsed Statement Number One_, "I beat up a tree."

"Uh-huh," Nightmare replied a little distantly. With more animation, he asked, "and what happened with Alice?"

_Rehearsed Statement Number Two_: "She left her room."

Nightmare's response was to merely cough up more blood.

I smacked my hand to my forehead, "_Really? _You better get some medicine for whatever's wrong with you or I'm going to bring you to a hospital myself."

As he paled, I laughed. His responses were borderline adorable. Remembering what I had just said, Nightmare stuttered, "A-Alice? W-what? H-how did you-?" he seemed at a loss for words.

I frowned, "Trust me, I'm not sure either. But, can you answer me one thing? Why was she in there so long?"

"Tiffany, you should realize-"

"Yeah, I know," I said quietly, "She doesn't want you to tell anyone. Is there any way I can find out?"

Nightmare frowned, "Alice is the only one you can trust with telling you the truth."

I asked apprehensively, "What do you mean '_the truth?_' Is there someone else who-?" I traveled into thought. My thoughts mulled over what Nightmare had just said. _Wait!_ _Hadn't Elliot said something about a person who told her she couldn't go back or something? _I smiled to myself, _That's it! I have to find that guy, _reluctantly I thought, _even though I know nothing about him._

"I can hear you, you know," Nightmare said smugly.

"Okay. Can you tell me where to find this guy? Or what his name is? Anything?" I looked at him curiously. _I wish I could read minds._

"No," he said sternly, "You aren't allowed to know anything about this person."

"Why not?" I whined, "He can't be that bad."

"He's dangerous. That's the end of this."

I opened my mouth to speak, but none of the words came out. It was almost as though a ripple danced across my vision. The dream was beginning to fade away. I tried my best to keep my mind within the dreams, but it only seemed to make the image disappear faster. As my eyes fluttered open, the words _Don't do anything out of the ordinary today_ echoed through my head_._

I looked around. It appeared to still be daytime. Though, I might have just slept through an entire cycle. Alice's room was completely empty aside from, of course, the furniture. As I began my expedition out of the mansion, I wondered where everyone was. The whole place seemed to be void of anything breathing. I was disturbed by the silence. Ever since I had been here, everyone was always running around so animatedly. As I stepped into the foyer, I thought where everyone could be. A maid scuttled across the room.

"Miss!" I shouted as I ran down the stairs. "Miss," I said again, "do you know where everyone is?"

She looked flustered, "A-at the Carnival, Tiffany."

"Carnival," I repeated, "That's not fair, I like Carnivals. Thank you, though." I smiled and waved as I ran out the door. I traveled aimlessly through the woods, trying to find where a carnival could be hiding. I mean, shouldn't it be a little large? You can't just shove a bunch of tents and circus freaks into the smallest of places. A _pop!_ erupted from above. I jumped at the sudden noise and looked up. _It was a firecracker!_

I sprinted in the direction that the smoke came from. The trees whizzed by and the woods seemed to be less gnarled than they normally were. They opened up and stared at the scene before me. An endless amount of tents and booths spread in front of me. There were also the necessary, metal deathtraps; set-up and moveable rides. I beamed as my childhood came rushing back to me. Dad always used to take my brother and me to fairs, festivals and carnivals when we were younger. There was the Apple Harvest, the Big E!, the Durham Fair, and the Berlin Fair, to name a few. The memories of strange foods, strange attractions, and strange people swarmed my thoughts. Though, I couldn't help but feel a little lonely. There was no one with me to share it with.

Regardless, I traveled through the aisles of tents. I read the various signs: Fortune Telling, Black Magic, and Contortionists. Nothing particularly sparked my interests. I sighed; it appeared this was just a typical-

A blonde wave invaded my peripheral vision. I turned, wide-eyed to see none other than Caitlin. My nose wrinkled as if I could smell her. She continued walking, as if I didn't exist. My heart rate increased; _she was wearing a pair of my socks! What the hell?_ I pursued her with a venomous taste in my mouth. After chasing her billowing waves through a crowd, I grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face me.

"What are you doing?" she said angrily.

"What are _you _doing? You're wearing my socks! When the hell did you get those?" I felt my voice losing control.

The blonde sneered, "I had them on the last time I saw you too. It's a little sad you didn't notice."

My voice rose, "How did you get them?"

"Well, since everyone thinks you're dead, your mom gave them to me. You left me everything in your suicide letter, don't you remember?" Caitlin's voice was dripping with feigned innocence.

My heart sank, "I did no such thing! The only thing I wrote in my _will_ about _you_ was that you're a wicked bitch who has no self-confidence even though you've stolen away everything I love!"

She smiled, "It isn't that way anymore."

I slapped her, "You edited my will? That's illegal, you slimy bitch!"

"Maybe you shouldn't trust people with your passwords then," she glared at me as she rubbed her cheek.

"Change it the fuck back!" I gripped her shoulder. I felt a sick satisfaction in seeing Caitlin cringe, "I'm not afraid to hurt you here! I've broken your arm by accident before; don't make me do anything on purpose."

"You'll have to catch me to do that," she smirked. As if I had never touched her, Caitlin began running through the crowds.

I followed after her, breathing uncontrollably and shouting her name. She would come back here. The thing about Caitlin was that she always came crawling back. She couldn't form her own bonds; somebody else had to take the first action. Which is exactly what had happened with her closest friends: I had met her only because we were the last two left in a bond-making game at camp. Her new best friend, Leah connected with her because she wanted to leave class early every day to 'help' Caitlin with her broken arm. Lastly, Jon and she were only close because he decided to ask her. She hadn't even liked him until he had brought it up. Everyone else had probably-

My thoughts were ripped away as I crashed into someone at full speed. I bounced backwards and landed on my butt. I muttered, "Ouch," and looked up.

"Are you alright?" a man with red hair and a jester hat asked. He was a role holder, but I had never seen him before. He outstretched his arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said as he helped me up. Internally I sighed, it seemed like I met everybody in such cliché ways. Though, what other way was there to meet someone when you run at full speed?

I was about to ask who the man was, but he beat me to the punch. He looked at me with amusement, "Who are you?"

"Tiffany," I said with boredom evident in my voice. All these introductions were starting to annoy me. I felt as if I was looking at him accusingly, as I asked, "And you are?"

"I am Joker," he said with the hint of a smirk. It was blatantly obvious this man was hoping to run into _The New Outsider_.

_ Great, a Batman wannabe_, I thought to myself. Even though I knew 'the Joker' in Batman looked nothing like him, I couldn't stop myself from becoming annoyed for a moment. I inhaled sharply, _Crap! I was supposed to be chasing Caitlin!_ I tried to look over Joker's shoulder, she was long gone. I frowned, "I have to go."

As I turned to walk the way I came, I realized Joker had not yet released my hand. I met his crimson eye; it seemed to dance with a cruel amusement, "Why do you have to leave so soon? A minute ago, you were panicking."

I steadied my gaze, "I wasn't 'panicking,' I was following somebody."

I was expecting him to ask 'Why?' but instead he squeezed my hand. The cuts were screaming. I bit my lip to stop myself from whimpering. Joker smiled, "What did you do to your hand?"

My voice turned cold, "Why do you need to know?"

Joker's smile faded and he became silent. He looked distracted, as if he was listening to someone else speak. I properly observed the man now. In my old world, he would appear like a typical circus freak. There were only two oddities: he had a whip, so maybe he was a ringmaster or worked with animals, and there was a strange white mask on his belt. Again, I was wrenched from my thoughts, as Joker asked accusingly, "What are you looking at?"

I felt my face turn red, I stammered, "Y-you have a whip. I was wondering if you were a ringmaster or something."

A smile spread across his lips. It was as if he was thinking something I wasn't. He leaned close to me and whispered, "I am. Would you like to see?"

This time, my whole body felt like it turned red, "S-some other time. There are a few people I need to find."

This time as I ran off, Joker let me go. I wiped the back of my hand across my forehead. That man was strange, almost as socially awkward as I was. Pushing my way through the crowds, I hoped to find one of the role holders I was familiar with. Even though it felt like it had been a long time, a few variables remained constant: my heart hadn't slowed down since my encounter with Joker, I still hadn't found anybody, and the time of day hadn't changed. At last, I was met with a set of familiar pair of eyes.

"Boris!" I smiled and waved to him. He was dressed in a dark outfit and his usual pink and purple boa was replaced with a black one. After approaching me, I realized he looked rather pale.

"What are you doing here?" he asked gravely.

I couldn't help but wonder if I had done something wrong by coming here.

"Nobody was around and I didn't feel like spending my day alone," my smile had faded.

"Tiffany," he began, "you shouldn't be here. You have to leave _now_."

I stuttered, "W-what are you-? What do you mean?"

"I may have to come since I'm a role holder, but this place is dangerous for outsiders," his gaze shifted to the ground, "Please, tell me you haven't met anyone."

My voice was now filled with concern, "W-why is it dangerous? But yes, I have. His name was Joker."

Boris' voice was harsh, "You have to leave now!"

"I don't want to be wandering around alone!" I shouted in a hurt voice.

"I can't leave. Role holders must attend the carnival."

Realizing we were drawing the attention of a growing number of people, I insisted in a quiet voice, "Then I'm not leaving."

Mimicking my reasonable tone, Boris persisted, "You have to go."

I shook my head, "I don't want to."

Shrugging his shoulders and sighing, Boris muttered, "You're so stubborn. How about this? Leave and meet me at the amusement park later. We can hang out there."

"Promise?" I asked, offering both my pinky and my thumb to him.

He made the same gesture with his hand after a few moments of hesitation and stared at mine, unsure of what to do. I linked our pinkies and pressed the tips of our thumbs together, giving him a grin.

Boris sighed heavily with what was hopefully relief, "Promise."

"You better not break it," I said as I pulled my hand away and took a step towards the exit of the park. I gave him a brief wave before he was swallowed up by bustling people.

Through the crowd, I saw two sets of smirking faces. They were standing together: Joker and Caitlin. My blood ran cold; _Thank goodness I'm not going back that way._ Following the aisles of tents, I soon spotted more familiar faces. This time, it was adult Dee and Dum, Elliot, Blood, and Alice. Their cluster made then quite obvious. Like Boris, they didn't seem to be enjoying their time. Elliot was heading the group, his hand in his pocket (I assumed he was holding a gun). Blood and Alice's arms were linked; Blood looked cold as his eyes shifted from person to person, while Alice's eyes were glazed over and idle. Trailing the group were Dee and Dum, they both had guns out. _This must be the place where Alice got so messed up. It must have been Joker. I don't blame her, he's pretty creepy._

"Didn't I tell you not to do anything out of the ordinary?" a disapproving voice said. I jumped and turned around. It was Nightmare! He was here with Julius and a man I didn't know. He had a lizard tattoo on his neck.

"W-w-How are you?" my voice was squeaking and panicking. _Nightmare can be out of dreams? _

He nodded once.

My hands flew to the sides of my head and I shouted, "Eh! Stop reading my brain!"

Nightmare gave me a disapproving gaze.

I sighed, "Fine, yes. You did tell me _not _to do anything out of the ordinary. But in my defense, exploring for me is _normal_."

"But carnivals in the Country of Heart is not," he replied flatly. "Do you have any idea how-?"

"Yes, yes. Dangerous. I know. Boris has already briefed me on this. I was leaving anyway," I paused for a moment. Instead of adding it, I thought, _And before you ask, I have met Joker. _I smiled like an idiot; I could talk to him telepathically. It was fun.

Nightmare's face was filled with some negative emotion I couldn't quite register. Though, I was pretty sure he was upset with me because I wasn't registering just how 'dangerous' the situation I had gotten myself into was. I'm sure he was overreacting is all. Already, I seemed to be making better decisions than Alice and besides, I was away from him already. He was somewhere in the crowd back where I had seen Boris.

My eyes met with those tattooed man again, "Oh yeah, before I go. Who's this?"

"Grey," Nightmare said, "This is his first day in Heart."

I frowned, I didn't really understand this talk about 'Heart' and the 'Country of Heart,' but I'd ask about it later when I was _safe_. "Okay. Bye Julius, Nightmare, Grey," I smiled childishly, "I like your tattoo. It reminds me of my lizard. You guys have to get me over to the tower some time. My last trip didn't last too long."

With that last statement, I found the exit to the carnival. It seemed as though evening appeared as soon as it was out of view. I skipped merrily toward the amusement park. I'd get to see Boris-

_What am I doing? _I stopped and looked at the ground. _I'm here to make sure Peter doesn't kidnap anymore helpless girls. I can't be a lovesick schoolgirl over some cat…But I can't help liking him. He's so nice…and fuzzy. _I burst out laughing and continued walking. It was no wonder I was beginning to like him, I was so naïve. I'd get over him though, I had to. Besides, he probably only likes me because I'm an outsider like Alice. Even if that wasn't it, everyone had to fall in love with me. It was the 'rules,' I taunted the word, even in thought. This entire world was like an excuse to act like a jerk and get behavioral reinforcement.

Shoot, there was one was thing that would let me go home if I really wanted to, wasn't there? Oh right! It was the vial. Wanting to check on it, I shoved my hand into my pocket; it wasn't there. I felt my other pocket; it wasn't there either. My mind panicked a little; _Did I have it with me this morning?_ Maybe not. Why did I even want it? It was just a reminder of being a miserable outsider. I wasn't supposed to be leaving, right? I promised Peter…though; I had been known to go back on my word if I was unhappy enough. Besides, I probably left it in Alice's room when I was sleeping. Upon seeing the amusement park, my thoughts quieted.

After arriving, I sat against a wall and waited. I'd resorted to singing to myself again to keep my mind off of the missing vial. After singing only a song or two, Boris came into view. It seemed as if the carnival had ended almost as soon as I had left. _Talk about being the life of the party_, I smiled at my own cheesy pun. Boris joined me against the wall.

"You really shouldn't have come to the carnival today," he murmured.

I kept my gaze on my feet, "You've told me, but it didn't seem like it ended until I left it anyway."

He sighed, "I guess you're right. It was always that way when Alice went too."

"Boris," I paused and looked him in the eye, "I ran into Nightmare as I was leaving earlier. He said something about a carnival being odd in Heart or the Heart Country or something."

Boris simply nodded.

"Why is it odd?"

"It's a long story," he frowned.

"I'll listen."


	9. Chapter 9

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Nine

Boris sighed, "If you're really sure you want to listen."

I nodded and smiled slightly. Maybe after this, I wouldn't feel so lost and isolated in this world. Maybe, I'd feel like I belong.

"Well," he began, "as you probably know, we're in a three front war. In an attempt to gather more territory, the royal family and the mafia moved to the Country of Clover-"

"Clover? I thought this was Heart?" I asked blankly.

"Yes. This is Heart. Alice first visited us here. Then she went to Clover too," he clarified, "Anyway, later on, Gowland moved an amusement park to Clover as well. I guess he didn't want to lose to Blood and the Queen. It didn't really matter though, Pierce and that forest were just taking up space-"

"Pierce?" I tilted my head.

"Pierce," he laughed, "he's a dormouse. A crybaby is really the only word to describe him."

I smiled, "He sounds cute."

"Eh, if you ever meet him, you won't think that for long. Can't even have a squirt gun fight with the guy," Boris began laughing again.

"What's so funny?"

"On occasion, I chase him down and threaten to eat him."

I smiled. Only he would take it literally that a cat had to chase a mouse. I looked up at Boris, "Where is Pierce?"

Boris shrugged, "No clue. Something tells me he'll be coming to Heart really soon. That is, if he isn't already here."

"Well," I urged him, "go on with the story."

"Alright, well, all was great. Julius had gotten a way into Clover Tower. Alice was happy. We all had a great time. Then April Season came. Basically that means every territory was assigned a season; the amusement park was summer, and the tower was winter, but that's not really important. The key rule of April Season is that Joker comes with his carnival and the role holders need to attend. Needless to say, Alice would come along. Every time we went, she would get lost. And every time she got lost, she would meet Joker. At first, it was okay. Even though we knew Joker was a trickster, he would let her leave as if they were casually meeting. Then Blood would find her and complain that he had to put effort into something."

I interrupted Boris again, "I don't get it. Nothing sounds that bad to me."

He flicked my forehead, "I was just about to get to the 'bad' parts."

"Aw," I whined and rubbed my forehead, "not the dreaded plot twists."

"Well, Joker is evil."

"I would've never guessed," I chimed sarcastically.

"He began locking Alice up every time she got lost and tormented her," Boris continued. I opened my mouth to speak, "Before you say something," he smiled, "just know that I'm not going to tell you what happened between Joker and Alice. The only person who can tell you that is Alice. So-"

"Why can't Joker tell me?" I asked childishly.

"Because you aren't going to be seeing him again."

"Aw, but I wanted to be miserable," I said before I stuck out my tongue.

Boris rolled his eyes, playfully, "Long story, short, Blood found her at every carnival, and eventually, she married him. Joker wouldn't leave her alone so the two of them found their way back to the Country of Heart through the tower. Then the rest of the role holders followed, hoping Joker wouldn't catch on."

"Well," I sighed, "I guess he has now."

"No kidding," Boris mumbled, unenthusiastically.

I bit my lip as I piece all of the information together, "Where was Alice getting locked up? Was she in the circus tent or something?"

Boris shook his head, "Along with the carnival, Joker is also in control of Wonderland's prison. If someone breaks a rule, they get thrown in there."

How Joker had been dragging Alice was a carnival to this mysterious prison without people noticing was beyond me. I'm sure I could put up a better fight than her, though, especially considering I'd already beat her in a match to first blood.

"And how was Alice planning to get home?" I blurted out. Boris seemed a little confused with my train of thought. I looked at the ground, feeling flustered, "Elliot said something about Alice planning on going home. How would she have done that? I was told I couldn't go home."

Boris wrapped his arms around me, "If I tell you, do you promise not to leave me?"

I assumed my cheeks had become scarlet, "If by leaving you, you mean Wonderland then fine," I picked my next words very carefully. I didn't want an explosion of guy jealousy all over me, "I've already promised myself to stay here."

I felt Boris lean closer and kiss my cheek. He whispered, "I'm glad."

In response, I turned to make eye-contact. I gave him a look of confusion.

Boris pulled me closer and kissed me on the lips. If it was even possible, I felt myself become even redder, or maybe, I had turned magenta. His lips moved slowly, cautiously even, against mine. Somehow, my body managed to reply; I began kissing him back. I felt Boris' hands slide to my waist. My own hands wrapped around his neck. _What am I doing? _I thought in shock. I released my hands and pulled myself from the kiss. Boris looked at me with concern, as if he had done something wrong. My gaze shifted to the ground; I couldn't let his cute, kitten-like expression keep me from getting an answer.

I decided to fully wrench myself from the moment. After clearing my throat, I asked again, "How was Alice planning to get home?"

While still hugging me, Boris answered quietly, "She was going to drink the refilled vial. I assume White made you drink one when he dragged you here?"

I nodded.

"Over time, it refills. Once it's full, an outsider can drink it and go home."

"It refills," I repeated to myself in surprise. I felt around in my pockets to see if the vial truly did refill itself. _If I remember correctly, there was a little bit of liquid in it when I looked at it last_, I thought. I continued feeling in my pockets, before remembering it had been missing a little bit earlier. I muttered to myself, "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" a voice asked.

"The vial," I answered. _Wait. Who had even asked that?_ I noticed Boris was looking curiously towards where the voice came from. I followed his gaze, and sighed, "What a surprise. You're here."

Caitlin smirked, "You know I can't let you have all the fun."

Instead of instigating, I merely thought, _It seems more like I can't have _any_ fun._

Boris released me as Caitlin walked over. She sat in front of him. After batting her eyelashes, she said in a girly voice, "Hello. I'm new here. My name is Caitlin."

"I'm Boris," he smiled.

I looked at the ground. It felt like I was watching from a dusty box; secluded, and forgotten.

"This is the amusement park, correct?" Caitlin asked innocently, though, it was obvious she was up to no good. "Would you mind showing me around?" she asked Boris.

"N-not at all," he stammered, clearly flustered. He stood, and then helped her up, as well.

Though, not before she whispered into my ear, "Thanks for getting him warmed up for me."

As they walked away, I felt my body heat up so much I felt like I would spontaneously combust, but my temper wouldn't snap. I couldn't lose control in front of Boris. _But why shouldn't I?_ _One moment, he was trying to kiss me and now he's off gallivanting with Caitlin! _I was left alone, staring at nothing. I needed _something_ to do. There was no way I would let her know I was upset.

I whispered to myself, hoping it would calm me down, "I could go to the mansion-" I remembered how I had told off Blood, as well as what happened between the twins and myself. "-to see, um, Elliot. Nah, I don't know him that well and he'll probably want me to get Alice out of her room again," I assumed Alice had locked herself up after having to go to the carnival. _Maybe, I'll visit the Castle?_ I wondered, _Peter and I are on good terms now, but he's still really creepy_. I must how sounded insane when I had been talking to myself.

To the tower it is. The walk took a painfully long time. Although, I was pretending to be unwounded, metaphorically speaking, I was still limping. In reality, I was walking slowly. Finally, the tower emerged from behind the trees and I entered just as the sun slid beneath the horizon.

After closing the door, I observed the scene around me. Julius, Grey, and Nightmare were gathered around a table, silently. Each was staring into a bowl of something purple and lumpy. I asked awkwardly, "Am I interrupting something?"

Julius and Nightmare seemed relieved to be looking at something that wasn't that color. Nightmare smiled, "Tiffany, I didn't think I'd be seeing you at the tower any time soon."

I sat at the table as I replied, "Why not?"

"I've heard your last trips here weren't very pleasant."

I thought back to the two times I had been here. The first was right after Peter had kidnapped me and the second was meeting Caitlin here. I sighed, "I guess not, but it beats everyone else right now. So, what is this stuff?" I pointed to the purple blobs.

"Porridge," Grey muttered in embarrassment.

My eyebrows rose, "I've never seen purple porridge before." Grey looked down; sulking. He opened his mouth, but I continued, "May I try some? I'm starving."

Grey's eyes widened and looked like he wanted to say something again, but this time Julius interrupted him, "Have mine. I need to get back to work." He nudged his meal towards me, stood and walked out of the room.

After Julius' exit, Grey stood and left as well. He mumbled something about needing to work also.

I scoffed, "Workaholics, what can you do with them?" I took a spoonful of porridge. Automatically, I cringed. _This has got to be the most dreadful thing I have ever tasted. _The only words to describe it were sour and awfully acidic. It was also filled with lumps and crunches that I couldn't create a reason for. Regardless, I ate it, making sure I could keep it down while chugging the glasses of what that were already at the table. Meanwhile Nightmare stared in horror. Between a bite, I told him, "You'd eat it if you were starving too."

"I don't think I would," he said, distastefully.

"Of course you wouldn't," I mumbled, "Anyway, why aren't you working? Are you their lowly secretary or something?"

"No! I'm their boss!" Nightmare paused, "I just-I don't like working."

I pushed away my empty bowl, "Wonderland is just full of clichés isn't it?"

"What do you mean clichés?"

"Gowland's name is girly and you're a lazy boss. To make it worse, people make fun of Gowland because of his name and two workaholics are under your leadership."

"It's not my fault I'm their boss!"

I smiled, darkly. "Oh, another cliché! You're a boss that blames people."

"We should stop talking about this," Nightmare huffed.

I burst out laughing, "Why? You'd hear my thoughts anyway." My eyes shifted to the table. The mess of dishes made my chores instinct click on. I took the plates and began washing them in the sink.

After a few minutes, Nightmare mumbled, "Why are you cleaning?"

I blushed, "It's a reflex."

"How does someone automatically clean a house?"

"It's only dishes, but it's easy to get a reflex towards something. Like, I used to get hit a lot so now when people lift their hand to wave, I flinch and think they're going to smack me. And why ask me why I clean? That's like me asking you why you're lazy, stalk people in their dreams, and don't go to the hospital even though you're sick."

Noticing the dishes were sparkly, I realized how filthy I felt. I looked up to Nightmare to ask him if there was a bath I could use, but he seemed to have already read my mind, "Right down the hall," he pointed.

I turned red. Whether out of frustration, embarrassment, or anything else, I wasn't sure. Maybe, I was getting worked up with having my mind read all the time.

Soon, I found myself sitting chin-deep in warm water. I never thought I would be able to appreciate bathing so much. In reality, though, I wanted to swim more than I wanted to bathe. Holding the towel awkwardly with one of my hands, I made an attempt at freestyle. I learned quickly why Olympic swimmers had never worn towels while swimming. It was a pain to keep the towel on, and if you let it go, you were destined for embarrassment. I stood in the middle of the bath and sighed through my nose. I sank down and blew bubbles out of my mouth.

Abruptly, I ceased my bubbling. If my ears were correct, I had heard the door open. My heart began beating quickly. Instinctively, I pushed myself, silently into the farthest corner of the bath. _Great, I'm hidden, but now what do I do?_ I couldn't tell if blood was rushing to my face or if the warm water was affecting me. The door opened again, _Crap! At least two of them are in here! _My heart rate increased even more.

"You know, Tiffany, you can calm down. We aren't pedophiles or anything," Nightmare muttered from across the room.

I stood up and shouted through the misty room, "Thanks for the thought! Gosh, you're making things worse!"

"Of course I am," I wondered if he was rolling his eyes.

"I'm paranoid! It isn't my fault, you brought it up!"

"Ha! See? You blamed someone!"

"At least I'm not afraid of hospitals!"

"You used to be!"

"But that was when I was a kid!"

Julius coughed, "It seems whenever you're around tension breaks out. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the other bath." With that, I heard him rise from the water and eventually, exit the room.

I wondered if Julius hated me for always being so loud and immature around him. Sure, I'd only met him a few times, but I couldn't help but feel disliked. Assuming my mind had been read again, Nightmare responded, "Don't mind Julius, there aren't many times he shows any emotions. Besides, he only thinks about work. Even if you were helping him, he'd probably still be upset about it."

I sighed. His attempts to make me feel better didn't work well. I'd never liked thinking that someone had been hurt by me, regardless of the circumstances. My thoughts went on a tangent as I reflected on some of my bigger mistakes.

"Tiffany," Nightmare practically whined, "Why are you hiding back there anyway?"

"I'm self-conscious," I hissed. Which, of course, was only partially true. People usually assured me I was attractive, I just never felt it. I had always told my family it was the pressure of the modern world's expectations, but that had never flown so well with them. They assumed I was a drama queen, even during the times I had plummeted into depression.

Either way, I inched my way forward until I could just see the outline of Nightmare's figure. I looked at the rippling water, and deciding bathing with other people was weird.

"It's not weird when it's the way you're brought up," Nightmare said.

"Stop reading my mind!" I shouted, childishly. My thoughts were the only place I was safe, that is, until I learned Nightmare could see them.

"You really do enjoy starting childish bickering, don't you?" he sighed, contently.

"You're one to talk, always responding to my thoughts in the first place," I spat back. I couldn't help, but laugh. Arguing with Nightmare was almost as fun as arguing with my brother.

I heard the water shift with Nightmare's form. I felt my body stiffen. For a moment, I thought he was getting up. Instead, he merely put his arms behind his head. He sighed, "Somebody's jumpy."

"It's your fault!" I shouted.

I could practically feel him smiling as he said smugly, "You're blaming people again."

"Well, it's-" I cut myself before I would give him the pleasure of saying I was blaming him again. Instead, I stomped my foot on the ground, made a high-pitched whiny noise and threw something at him. I heard the soggy impact, but the two of us sat in a strange silence for a moment. My face bright red, I sunk back into the water, "Can I have my towel back?"

I hoped Nightmare's eyes were staring at the towel and not towards me. He replied, simply, "You have some temper, huh?"

"Yes," I said through gritted teeth, trying my hardest not to shout 'It's not my fault.' "Now can I _please_ have my towel back, before I find something else to throw at you?"

"Fine," Nightmare sighed. Seconds later, the towel landed on my face with a wet _plop!_ I quickly wrapped it around me. I crawled up the nearest edge of the bath and headed for the exit. Stubbornly, Nightmare whined, "Not even a 'Goodnight, Nightmare?'"

I glanced at him through the doorway. I blushed and shifted my eyes to the floor, as I muttered, "Why would I say goodnight? Aren't you going to talk to me while I'm asleep anyway?" I sighed, "But if that's the way you are, fine. Good-night." I enunciated each word clearly.

As I finally exited the bath, I could have sworn Nightmare began violently coughing. _I swear, I'm going to force whatever medication is necessary down that guy's throat!_ Silently, I dressed myself and peered down the hallway. It appeared as if Julius and Grey were out of sight. I tiptoed to the exit, not wanting to find anyone to bother about staying the night. I reached for the knob-

The door flung open. I fell backwards and suppressed a scream. A cloaked figure covered in blood entered. My mind reeled as the scent of it overpowered me.

"Oh, hi Tiffany. I didn't know you would be here," the figure said.

"A-Ace?" I stuttered, wide-eyed.

"Yup!" he smiled, lowering the hood and taking off a mask.

"My God! What happened to you! Are you alright?" I stood up and eyed the blood on his garment.

He smiled, "Me? Yeah, I'm fine. After all, this isn't my blood."

My skin paled, "Y-you were killing people?"

He nodded, happily. A tide of fury swept over me, I clenched a fist and raised it to punch him for destroying something as sacred as life. As I forced my hand forward, he caught it with ease. Still smiling, Ace said, "Oh look! Your hands are better too!"

"Yes," I mumbled, noticing my bandages had fallen off and my knuckles had only small scabs. _Why did they heal so fast? Did I break the skin a few days ago? _Come to think of it, the scratches on my cheeks had been healed for what felt like a very long time.Returning to the subject at hand, I swallowed hard, "Ace, why were you killing people?"

He looked down, dreamily, "I was doing my job."

"J-job?"

"Yeah, see?" he handed me a bag. A few metallic objects shifted as the bag rested in my grasp. I placed the sack on the table and opened it. I cradled a broken clock in my hands.

"A-a clock?" my blood ran cold, "Aren't clocks hearts in this world?"

"Yes," Ace said, in the same dreamy voice. That would mean Ace was practically gouging out these people's hearts and bringing them here, but why?

"I-I have to go," I said, placing the clock, tenderly back into the sack. I walked around Ace and out the door. He grabbed my wrist before I could escape. As I turned, I blurted out, "I understand you're concerned, but I-"

Nightmare's eyes met mine, "You can't go out there."

I stared. When did he come out of the bath? I merely stuttered, looking for an excuse. It ended up merely being a, "Why not?"

"Night is dangerous here."

"Isn't it everywhere?" I muttered, distastefully.

Ace chimed in, "No, Tiffany. He's right there are really ferocious creatures that live here."

I pulled my wrist away from Nightmare and sighed, "Fine! I'll stay. I'd probably fall asleep in a tree anyway."

Quickly, Nightmare led me to a room and sent Ace on his way to Julius' room (For what, I'm not sure, but I bet he got lost.). I examined the room. It was simple; little more than a bed, a bureau, and a lamp. Though, I smiled. It wasn't anything like the over decorated hotel-like rooms I'd been staying in.

Nightmare looked flustered, "This is all I can give you. Not too flashy, but I hope it's good enough."

I turned to Nightmare and let him see the grin on my face, "It's perfect," I chimed as I hoped on the bed with a puff of dust, "Nothing like everyone else's over decorated places."

"Maybe you should stay longer than just the night then," he gleamed.

"Stay longer?" I echoed.

"Yeah, I've heard routines are good for people. Instead of staying at each territory randomly, you could stay here."

"I'll think about it," I muttered, flatly. Staying somewhere would be good, but there wasn't really anywhere I felt welcome in Wonderland. Every time I thought I was getting comfortable with someone, things seemed to be falling apart.

After Nightmare showed me where there were spare clothes, he said goodnight and left. I changed into a simple, white nightgown and settled under the covers of the bed. My exhaustion quickly settled upon me, causing my head to blur and float into unconsciousness.


	10. Chapter 10

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Ten

My eyelids twitched as the sunlight blazed against them. _Morning already? I don't think I've slept._ True, I appreciated this room more than the others, but this bed wasn't nearly as comfortable. I mumbled and rolled over in order to hide from the sunlight. After a few minutes, I knew I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep especially with the smell of breakfast in the air. I sighed and rolled out of bed. Groggily, I crawled my way towards the kitchen. When I arrived, I noticed Grey, and Julius were both fully dressed (and conscious) and sitting at the table. I rubbed my eyes, noticing Nightmare's absence. Now accompanying the smell of delicious, delicious food was something else. It was dry and sour, and made me wrinkle my nose.

"Good morning, Tiffany," Grey said pleasantly. He might have been smiling, but I was a bit distracted by the cigarette in his hand, "Would you like anything to eat?"

I gave him a 'why-the-hell-are-you-smoking-in-the-house' look. I don't think he understand until I took a few steps closer to him and pointed at the white nub and muttered, "Why are you smoking in the house?"

"It's just a habit, I guess," Grey replied. As expected he was avoiding the question. My dad always did too. There was never a real reason. He would blame the habit, or apologize and put it out.

I groaned and looked at Julius for some kind of help. After all, he was the most easily annoyed person I'd met since arriving here, and he was normally chiding me anyway.

Julius' face definitely read as annoyed. It seemed as though he wasn't even able to eat with the bickering going on. At this point, I was pretty sure he was allergic to immaturity. With his usual unhappy tone, he explained, "He restarted the habit after Alice disappeared."

"And you stopped eating," Grey sent him a glance that couldn't be called a glare, but it was definitely filled with some kind of hate.

With the tension now thick enough to cut with a knife, I stepped up to Grey and plucked the cigarette from his hand. Looking between the two men, I stated, "The solution is simple: Grey, you stop smoking, and Julius, well, you keep eating. You're already doing a decent job."

Really Julius was barely paying attention to the food, but my guess was he made it since it looked edible. It looked like I ruined any good chance of Grey's morning going well. Maybe if they both started acting healthy enough they would start being a little more fun. With a sigh, I decided to change the subject, "Where's your boss?"

It kind of surprised me that either of them responded. Sounding tired, Grey answered, "He's probably still asleep."

I felt my eye twitch. Here I was ordering his underlings for him and he was still out cold in a warm, probably super comfy bed. With a growing smirk, I asked, "Where's his room?"

I was given the directions, so long as I promised to ask Nightmare to do paperwork today. Without any hesitation, I accepted (so long as breakfast was still there when I returned). As I marched up the stairs, I noticed a pile of burnt wood and a tent in the middle of the hall. I watched as somebody yawned and shifted inside. Since the only other unaccounted for visitor to the tower was Ace, I assumed it was him. I muttered, "What are you doing?"

Said knight practically tripped out of the tent. With his signature grin, he answered, "I was camping."

"In the middle of a building?" I replied, looking thoroughly unsurprised and annoyed.

"Uh huh," as usual, his expression didn't change.

"Why?" I wished I was at least curious that the answer was a mystery to me.

"Well," he laughed and put a hand behind his head, "I couldn't find Julius' room last night so I decided I should just stay here."

Figures, he would have gotten confused even when he was going somewhere he'd been hundreds of times. I answered rather unenthusiastically, "He's awake. Why don't you go see him now?"

"Okay!" he smiled excitedly and began heading in the wrong direction.

I grabbed Ace's arm, "Wrong way!" After turning him around by his shoulders, I pushed him forward and instructed, "Now, don't take _any_ turns and you'll get to the kitchen fine."

He nodded happily and headed off.

I called after him, "And don't forget to clean all of this up when you're done!"

I had the strangest feeling he was going to get lost anyway. _He's harder to navigate than a two-year old_, I sighed. After arriving at Nightmare's door, I knocked once. There was no response. Twice, still nothing. Three times, silence.

_Yay! That means I have a reason to be obnoxious_, I smiled to myself. I kicked the door in; hoping for a shocked yelp…or at least something, but again there was nothing but silence.

I sighed, "Nightmare, you know you have to get up now."

I stared at the lump hiding under the covers. I poked him repeatedly, hoping for him to get annoyed. He didn't seem to do anything aside from tensing up. "You really do sleep like a rock, huh?"

I decided it was time for a new tactic and ripped the sheets away. Curiously, I eyed the man curled into a ball. He looked like he was shivering.

"C-c-c-cold," Nightmare muttered to himself. He curled himself even tighter.

I put my hand to my cheek and hoped it would be on the colder side. Internally, I smirked, _ice cold_.

"I'm going to count to three," I began, "if you don't get out by then, it's going to get a lot colder in here."

"B-b-but, Grey will make me," he gulped dramatically and whispered, "work!"

I nodded, "That's why I'm waking you up. One-"

He didn't budge.

"Two-"

I thought I saw him tense some more.

"Three!" I shouted and put my icy hands against his cheeks.

Nightmare squirmed and whimpered for a moment. "Stop!" he squeaked as I moved my hands to the sides of his neck. His reaction was to flail and whine loudly. He rolled from my grasp and onto the floor. Upon standing, he looked absolutely miserable.

I laughed.

Nightmare mumbled, "You're awful."

"Nu uh, if you woke up on your own, I wouldn't have to be here," I smiled.

"I'm taking a personal day," he muttered.

I was going to need to think of some way to get him motivated. _Hmm, what normally kept me from missing school? It was either the chance for vacation or…_

Smiling like an idiot, I reasoned, "Well, if you do that now, you won't be able to take a field trip later."

"Field trip?" Nightmare asked, looking slightly more interested.

I nodded, "It's going to be lots of fun!"

He sighed, "You don't even know what it is yet, do you?"

Turning red, I muttered, "Not quite, but I promise, it'll be fun!"

"Fine," Nightmare sighed, "I'll go on your 'field trip' with you."

"Okay," I chimed, as I skipped out of the room. I popped my head into the room one more time, "If you aren't out in five minutes, I'm sending Grey to get you."

As I ran through the halls, I bumped into said tattooed man. I told him what Nightmare's restrictions were, knowing he would probably appreciate the opportunity to tell his boss what to do. Didn't most people?

Childishly, I dashed through the remaining halls and returned to the kitchen. Thankfully, Ace had managed to find his way there on his own. He seemed to be bothering Julius about something but I was too hungry to eavesdrop. I grabbed a plate that was untouched and hoped it was meant for me. As I leaned against the counter and began forking the various breakfast food down my throat, Julius was leaving the room, looking as annoyed as ever.

Ace wore an empty grin on his face. He was staring where Julius had been sitting a minute ago.

I hoped I could snap his out of it. I pointed with my fork at the doorway he'd left through and asked, "Is he doing okay?"

The knight blinked a few times. It didn't even seem like he noticed I was there. It took him a moment to recall what I'd said, "Oh yeah! He's always like that!"

"Maybe we should get someone to cheer him up," I frowned. Unfortunately, it was pretty obvious the only person who would be able to do that would be Alice and all of her glory. I let out a breath, expecting Ace to verify my thoughts.

Instead, he chirped, "Hey, Tiffany, want to go to the castle with me?"

I looked up in thought for a moment. It had been a while since I'd visited the castle, and the last time I'd been there, my stay wasn't very long either. Maybe this time something exciting could happen, and at least this time Ace would be there to shoot Peter if he got too annoying. I nodded, "Sure! I'll go. Just give me a few minutes to get ready."

Ace nodded and grinned. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off, "Listen: Do _not_ leave this room. I don't want to have to find you."

The smile faded from his face for a moment before making a triumphant return, "Are you sure? You _did_ tell me to clean up my stuff."

"We'll do it later! If you leave this room, you leave this room, we're both going to get stuck in this tower forever," I sighed and headed for the door.

"Because you'll come looking for me?" Ace asked, looking surprised.

I looked over my shoulder and gave him a half-smile, "Yeah. I'll look for you."

Even as I turned away, he still looked surprised. I wasn't quite sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, but I had to admit I was relieved he wasn't wearing an unnecessary smile anymore. After taking a turn, I realized I'd been too involved with my thoughts and I had taken a wrong turn. This room was dimly lit, and for a moment I was worry the time had changed. Above me twirled a seemingly endless staircase. Since it disappeared into darkness, I couldn't tell how tall it was. I sighed and turned to exit when an echoing _Chu~_ rang through the room.

I yelped and covered my mouth. Was an animal in here? Or maybe it was some kind of monster or even a ghost? With a bit of courage, I lowered my hands and called out cautiously, "Hello?"

A faint response made its way to me, "Help me! _Chu~_"

I sighed with relief. For a second I was worried this place was haunted. I told the voice, "I'll be right there!"

I started up the stairs, and focused on not getting dizzy or falling down. Though, the pair seemed to go together and was doing its best to distract me. I was just getting tired as I finally encountered the distressed. His hair looked kind of light colored. I couldn't tell much in this light. I was sure that he had some sort of animal ears. They were either those of a bear, or maybe even a mouse. It could be the person Boris had been talking about. He stared up at me with teary eyes and asked, "You've come to help me? _Chu~?_"

I nodded and felt my head getting light. It was so hard to resist giving him a hug! "W-what do you need help with?"

"It's stuck," the mouse stated, pointing to his shoe. It was wedged between two bars of the railing. How it had happened, I didn't even want to know. He would have tripped and been falling down and only getting his shoe caught had saved him. I frowned and put my hands on the shoe.

"I'm going to count to three and then pull, okay?" I sent him a glance to make sure he understood.

He nodded once, looking worried.

"One, two, three!"

I pulled it toward myself, making Pierce squeak in pain. There was a _pop!_ sound, almost like someone would hear in a cartoon. The mouse stared. It could have been some kind of relief or maybe even surprise. After a moment of what seemed like internal conflict he whispered, "Thank you. _Chu~_"

"You're welcome," I automatically replied. After standing up, I asked, "but how did you even manage to get your foot stuck?"

"I tripped," he said so quietly, I could barely hear him.

I laughed and offered him a hand to help him up, "Don't worry, I fall all the time."

The mouse smiled in reply and took my aid, "Um, my name is Pierce Villers. _Chu~_"

"Mine is Tiffany, Tiffany Lyraine," I said politely, as I started down the stairs with him. It was only then it had occurred to me that he was the only person in this world who knew my last name, unless of course, Peter somehow knew it as well.

"Tiffany is a cute name. _Chu_~" Pierce smiled cutely.

"What is 'chu?'" I asked with a furrowed brow.

"Chu is chu," he smiled.

I stiffled a sigh, and was glad the stairs would be ending soon. Boris had been right. No matter how cute the mouse was, I really didn't have the patience to deal with him for a long period of time.

As we reached the floor, the dormouse asked, "Are you an outsider? _Chu~_"

With a hint of a smile, I replied, "Isn't it obvious?"

I led the mouse into the hall and motioned for him to leave with a cheesy "Welcome to the Country of Heart." Once the mouse was out of view, I snuck into my room to get changed and into a bathroom to get washed up. I found myself wondering why I had waited for Pierce to disappear completely and figured I didn't want to increase the chance someone walked in on me or made me take even longer than I already was. With some luck, there weren't any more interruptions and the knight and I set off for Heart Castle.

Silently, the pair of us sat next to each other in the forest. It was too hot for me, so I suggested we take a break. Ace has agreed, silently. In fact, he hadn't said much since we'd exited the tower. I was beginning to worry I made him wait in the kitchen too long, but he assured me that wasn't it no matter how many times I tried to apologize. He had an expression on his face that was so serious, it almost scared me. I opened my mouth, hoping I would be able to find something we could talk about…but of course, I could only ask something stupid, "What're you thinking about?"

"Stuff," he said, with the same dreamy expression he had last night.

"L-like?" I stuttered, hoping to get some information that was more useful.

"Have you ever wondered," he began, "what life would be like if someone was dead?"

I looked at my feet, "Yes, but only myself. I can't imagine other people's deaths."

"What was it like?"

"I tried to imagine everyone else would be happy. Though I guess I focused more on how I would die," I mumbled. The thoughts had never been that clear. If I hinted at it, people told me they would be sad, but it felt as though they were really just tired of me being sad.

"Hm?" Ace asked as he stared into the distance.

I smiled to myself. I wondered if I had a similar expression to Ace now, "I've always wanted to die in a white gown that was stained red with my blood. I hoped someone close to me would kill me and someone who was in love with me would come rushing up a staircase only to see me take my final breath, but that sounds like Shakespeare tragedy stuff, nothing that would actually happen," I glanced at Ace, the image seemed to amuse him, "What about you? You brought it up, so you must have thought about someone's death before."

"Yes," he smiled eerily, "I've always wanted to kill an outsider. To take something away that everyone else loved. Though, I don't have any specifics picked out like you. I think I'd rather just act in the moment."

I nodded. Though, technically, this meant that Ace was threatening me, I couldn't blame him. He put up a wall of mixed emotions just like I did. He showed the world a spontaneous persona; a lie only he understood. Secretly, he just wanted to be accepted, the one thing the persona could never receive. Everyone I'd seen talk to him always seemed annoyed or angry at him even though he hadn't done anything bad. I interlaced my fingers with his, "I'm sorry."

Ace glanced at my hand and then at me with his usual happy and childish expression, "What for?"

"For a lot of things, but mostly because I know you want to be comforted. Though, I'm not sure how to do that. Different objects and actions warm different people, but I've never even been able to know what comforts me," I rambled, hoping the fact I wanted to help would be enough to make him feel better.

Ace loosened his hand from mine and wrapped his arms around me. He rested his ear against my heart, "This helps."

I felt my body flood with warmth. Not a nervous, flustered blush, but strength, a maternal power. Something made me feel like I was doing the right thing. I used my free hand to stroke Ace's head. I smiled and explained quietly, "I'm not surprised. I've heard the heart is what helps calm a crying infant and that it's a baby's constant companion while it's still in its mother's womb, but I guess I wouldn't really know why it can calm you down so much."

Wouldn't a ticking clock make him feel better? Ace's mother would have had a clock to comfort him, but essentially weren't they the same thing anyway? Both kept a beat and even though a clock was supposed to keep a steady time, it normally read a slightly different time than all of the other clocks in the house.

A long time seemed to pass, and the sun finally began to set. I tapped Ace, "We should probably find our way to the castle right about now."

Silently, he agreed and we began our way through the forest again. Unfortunately, I let Ace lead the way. I wasn't surprised for very long when we ended up at Hatter mansion. I sighed and gave him a disapproving look.

"Oops," Ace said, "I could have sworn this was the way to the castle."

"It's fine. Maybe we can stay the night here," I reasoned as the sun slipped beneath the horizon.

Ace gave me a wide grin, "You mean, maybe if you beg and grovel, they'll let _me_ stay the night. Since, they'd let you stay anyway."

I gave a short laugh, "I guess you're right."

Though, I couldn't help think that if the people living here took the chance to get to know Ace, maybe they would get along better with him.

I pulled Ace along through the main gate. Hopefully, Blood wasn't angry at me. _I still need to apologize, too._

Before I could have a long and depressing internal soliloquy, there was a rustling in the bushes behind Ace and I. A firm tap met my back and a familiar voice shouted, "You're it!"

"W-wha!" I exclaimed as Dee ran past me. I turned to Ace, "W-we're playing _tag_?"

"I guess," he shrugged before he began sprinting from me.

"Crap, I hate being it," I muttered as I began chasing after Dee. "Dammit," I muttered to myself, "He's too fast."

All of the awkwardness from the last trip seemed to melt away immediately. The twins were acting like kids again. That must have mattered most to me.

A small rustle caught my attention. I broke off from chasing Dee and sought after a new prey.

"Shoot!" Dum muttered as he ran out of the bushes.

Since I had been running before him, I was able to keep a steady pace behind the red boy. For dramatic effect, I managed to release an insane cackle. Though, this did little to help the fact Dum and I were still trudging through Hatter grounds. The ground had become softer and-just my luck-a rock had managed to cross my path. As I plummeted towards the dirt, I outstretched my arms. Then, a miracle occurred. My hands wrapped themselves around the fleeing boy's ankle and I pulled him into the dirt with me.

"You're-it," I panted. I sat up and looked at Dum, who was covered in dust, "No-tag-backs!"

"Fine," he sighed stubbornly, "You win."

"It doesn't work that way!" I argued and motioned my hands towards the place we had run from, "You're supposed to go tag one of the others!"

Begrudgingly, the boy stood up. It was then I realized he was bleeding.

"Hey!" I squeaked before Dum could leave, "Is your knee, okay?"

"Hm?" he said looking at his leg, "Yeah, it's fine."

"Are you sure? Because I could always-"

"I mean-Ow! Ow! It hurts!"

Internally, I face palmed. This was turning out just like watching kids at summer camp. Though, part of me was concerned, I knew the majority of it was him being melodramatic, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Dum nodded, and gave me an innocent and pained expression, "Can you kiss it better?"

_Thank God,_ I thought, _I was scared he was gonna ask me for CPR or something_. Quickly, I kissed his knee, "Better?"

He nodded again, looking more like his mischievous self.

"Hey! That's not fair!" a voice shouted from the bushes.

Dee marched angrily towards Dum and me. He whined, "Why does he get a kiss? My lips hurt!"

"E-eh?" I stuttered.

Ace immerged from another bush. "Mine do too!" he said nonchalantly.

I put my face in my hands as Dee and Dum got into a predictable argument. I sighed, "Ace, do you think you can break up their fight?"

"No way!" he smiled, "This is much more exciting than tag. I wanna join too!"

"W-what?! No!" I denied, pulling his arm toward me.

"Oh? So you _do_ want to make my lips feel better?" the knight said with a suggestive grin.

I hissed through my teeth, "The hospital's going to have to make you feel better if you keep it up."

An infuriated scream echoed across the grounds. The four of us froze and turned towards its source. Elliot looked as if he was almost in tears. In a swift motion, he pulled out his gun. As he began shooting, he shouted, "I'm going to kill you brats for ruining the carrots!"

For a few moments, I stared absently. Bullets whizzed by me, heading towards the twins. Dee and Dum were able to dodge every projectile. Instantly, my sense snapped back to me, "Elliot! Stop!"

There was a moment of silence before he replied, "Why should I? They've ruined my garden!"

"It's my fault!" I admitted, "I chased Dum this way. I didn't have to play. It's my fault your garden is ruined. If you want to shoot someone, shoot me. I guarantee you won't miss."

I stood and outstretched my arms, waiting for the impact. I held my breath and closed my eyes. _So this is it then? Dying over a ruined garden. How pathetic._

Elliot's laughter broke through my thoughts, "You think I'd kill _you_ over that garden?"

I stared, dumbfounded, then snapped into frustration, "You were just shooting at the twins weren't you?!"

"You're not like them, though! They're insulting and don't listen to a word anyone tells them!"

"Stop lying, you perverted hare!" Dum bickered.

"Yeah, you just want Tiff to make your lips feel good, too!" Dee added.

I turned red and hid my face in my hands, "Why me?" I muttered.

I could tell Elliot was getting extremely frustrated. Fortunately for the twins, he picked a new target, "What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

I could almost feel Ace's signature expression, "I was going to the castle with Tiffany, but we ended up coming here."

"You let _him _lead the way?" Elliot aimed at me.

"I forgot!" I whined.

Again, a round of bickering was interrupted, this time, by a cool voice. "What's all the noise?"

My blood ran cold-no, my insides turned to ice. I didn't even want to think about it! I wasn't prepared!

Blood walked strongly from the stairs to our group. Every one of his movements made me feel more embarrassed. How would I be able to apologize for _this_ _and telling him off?_


	11. Chapter 11

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter 11

"Blood!" Elliot was the first to respond, "The brats were digging up the carrot garden again!"

"Carrots?" I muttered to myself, "Elliot, I thought you didn't like carrots."

"I don't, but you need carrots to make carrot dishes," he nodded to himself.

Before I could begin thinking about carrot cake, the twins began their statement in the matter:

"But Boss doesn't even like carrot dishes," Dum began.

"He thinks orange is a repulsive color for food," Dee finished, smiling smugly to his brother at his use of vocabulary.

"Regardless of my opinion, selling carrots is a good way to cover your salaries, isn't it?" Blood commented.

Elliot and the twins nodded in unison.

"Well then, it's only fair that the three of you get a pay cut."

The trio made horrified faces. Blood's attention now turned to Ace and I.

"What are you two doing here?"

Before someone could announce we were only here because we were lost, I stated boldly, "I-I came to apologize!"

Blood raised an eyebrow and waited for a few seconds. When I didn't speak, he stated with a smile inclination of his head, "Well, I'm waiting."

My face flushed, as I tried to gather the right words, "I-it was wrong of me to confront you after showing me such hospitality. Um, i-it was wrong for me to accuse you of hoarding Alice away from the rest of Wonderland," finding confidence, I continued strongly, "I can see now, that you were only trying to-no, you were-protecting her. The two of you are deeply in love and I had no right to accuse you of having any other intentions. For that, I ask-I beg that you forgive me."

I released a shaky breath. Blood gave a single nod.

_I hoped that translated to "You're forgiven," and not something else._

With a cool expression, his attention switched to a new matter, "You three," he was looking at his subordinates, "are going to clean this up."

Elliot remained silent as the twins alternately whined, "But it's the stupid hare's garden! Why should we be the ones to clean it up?"

"You ruined tonight's plans, you idiots," the hare stated. He proceeded to smack each of them on the back of the head and explain, "We were going to have a tea party with Alice."

"A tea party?" I repeated through my teeth. _Grown men have tea parties? _I hoped my expression looked excited and not like I was about to burst into laughter.

"Yes, it was going to be the first party Alice has participated in for a long time," Blood explained with a handsome smile, "You're welcome to attend the next one, Tiffany."

My cheeks turned red, I stuttered, "U-uh, sure."

"Though, you should probably find a new friend," he paused, "before you get involved with the wrong people." Abruptly, the time changed to evening. Blood glared at Ace, "I suggest you take your leave while you're still in one piece."

The knight replied with nothing but a cocky smile. Then, he turned to me, "I guess he's right though, Tiffany. We should be getting to the castle, the Queen wants you at her tea party. We'd better hurry or she'll start beheading people."

"Okay," I replied as the blood drained from my face. _Vivaldi would resort to decapitation if I don't show up?_

Ace grabbed me by the arm and began pulling me towards the main gate. I pulled away and walked in front of him. I argued sarcastically, "There's no way I'm letting you lead us to the carnival or something."

"We wouldn't want that would we?" Ace smiled.

_No we would not_, I answered in my mind.

As we arrived at the gate, Elliot shouted, "Hey, knight! If you come back here again, you'll get shot!"

I widened my eyes and stared at Ace in concern.

He continued smiling, "Oh, don't worry. He always says that."

"That's comforting," I muttered sarcastically.

After our _pleasant _parting with the Hatter family, I trudged through the forest, dragging Ace behind me. I refused to allow him to step a foot away from me. There was no doubt in my mind he'd wander off. Thankfully, the trees parted and I managed to lead the way into the castle.

All too soon, I was tackled to the ground, "Tiffany! You're here!"

"Gah! Peter!" I exclaimed, pushing him off of me.

"Yes?" he answered with sparkling eyes.

"Why are you always so touchy?"

"I'm excited when I see you," he smiled, "Besides, I was just about to set out to find you because _this_-" he gestured to Ace "-was taking too long!"

"Sorry, I insisted we take a detour," I lied.

Ace argued, "You don't have to lie for me, Tiffany. Everyone's pretty much used to the fact I get lost."

My face heated up, "But you can't let someone cover for you _once_?"

Before Ace could respond, a maid stated, "I don't mean to interrupt, but the Queen insists Tiffany attends the tea party as soon as possible."

Remembering Ace's statement about how Vivaldi would begin beheading people, I shouted, "O-oh! Yeah! We should go." I took both Ace's and Peter's hand and began dragging them toward the garden.

Despite Peter insisting I'd get covered in germs from holding Ace's hand, we made it to Vivaldi all right. Her attendants quickly settled our trio in with me sitting closest to the Queen. Peter stared adoringly at me, while Ace's attention seemed to be on consuming as many calories as possible.

"We're pleased you were in time for tea, Tiffany," Vivaldi said curtly, "Or else, we'd have made you stay at the castle until our next chance."

Though her last statement intimidated me a bit, I smiled, "I'm happy I could make it too. I'd rather be having tea here than at the Hatter's."

"Why's that?" the Queen answered with amusement.

"Blood kind of creeps me out."

Peter chimed, "Well, I'm glad that Tiffany came to see me!" In an instant, he was embracing me again.

"Um, no offence Peter, but I'm here because Ace told me that if I didn't arrive soon, the Queen would've started beheading people," I muttered.

Vivaldi sent an icy glare to her subordinates, "If we were to behead anyone right now, it would be these two-" -I stiffened- "-but sadly, our guards are not skilled enough to perform such a task."

I sent a sarcastic look in Peter's direction, "I never knew you were _actually_ dangerous, Peter. I just thought you were trigger happy."

"W-what would make you say that?" he said looking flustered.

Ace, taking a break from snacking, smiled, "Remember when I left the castle with her after she first arrived?"

I laughed, "I swear, I thought both of you were psychotic."

Peter, overcome with his hatred for Ace, remained silent.

Ace on the other hand, burst out, "Though I wonder, how did Peter get you to agree to sleep with him after _just_ getting here?"

"EH?" I shouted and turned bright red.

"You are going to regret you had ever said such a thing!" Peter whipped out his gun and pointed it to Ace's head. Before the shot could go off, I pushed the arm holding the gun upward. The deafening crack echoed off into the sky.

"My God! We're at a tea party, could you two at least pretend to be civilized?"

Vivaldi scowled, "Such tasteless fools, we would take great pleasure in removing your heads."

I sighed and fanned my overheated face. Something told me I'd never succeed at pacifying the violence of this world. There were a few silent beats where tea was being sipped.

Out of the blue, Vivaldi asked, "Tiffany, you'll be staying here for the next time period, correct?"

"Sure, but, um, what's so special about it?" I asked blankly.

I thought I heard Peter choke on his tea. Vivaldi responded coolly, "It's necessary for all role holders to attend the carnival."

"Oh," I murmured. I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. I really did like carnivals…but mostly because I wasn't convinced Joker was as 'evil' as people kept characterizing him. So he messed with one person, isn't a joker supposed to be a trickster? Also, isn't his 'victim' supposed to be the one who claims when the joke has gone too far?

Peter's attention shifted from making sure he could breathe to latching back onto me, "You don't have to worry, Tiffany! I'll return for you as soon as tomorrow's evening arrives."

As _charming_ as that sounded, I muttered, "I wasn't worrying. Actually, I was wondering. Is the carnival open even when the role holders don't have to attend? I mean, I know what happened with Alice is bad, but Joker doesn't seem _that_ dislikable."

My reply was an array of concerned expressions.

"Tiffany, are you feeling well?" Peter said, taking my face in his hands.

"Yes?" it came out sounding like a question.

Ace sent a glance of amusement over Peter's shoulder. If the knight was planning to speak, he was never able to. Daylight abruptly brightened the castle. Vivaldi ordered a swift clean up of the party. I felt rather distant as I was escorted into the foyer of the building and the three role holders exited the castle. The majority of the building's staff soon followed. I stared feeling broken and empty.

Instead of dwelling on the melancholy of the situation, I decided I should do something proactive. Considering Vivaldi had mentioned all the role holders were gone, there really wasn't much to do. I inhaled deeply and released a yawn that echoed off the castle's marble. Maybe I should sleep.

After a laborious and time consuming search, I managed to find a guest room. I flopped onto the bed and slept.

After what seemed like a short, blurry moment, I opened my eyes. It was still daytime. I assumed I had slept through a time period or two. Surprisingly, Peter wasn't here. Hadn't he been all excited about meeting me after the carnival? Without gussying up, I wandered out into the hall and noticed a pair of maids talking in hushed voices down the hall.

"Excuse me," I interrupted, "Do either of you know where Peter is?"

The one on the left frowned, "Lord White is still at the carnival."

"Isn't that odd though? Does that mean it's the same time period since he left?" I pondered more to myself than anyone else.

"It is!" the other maid exclaimed, "I can't remember a time period ever lasting this long."

I looked at the floor and thought to myself. _All the role holders need to attend the carnival. All role holders have faces. Even though I'm an outsider, I have a face. Maybe…_My head flew up, "I'm going to go check something. Thanks for clarifying things for me." I waved to the maids and headed toward the exit.

**A/N: Yay? A chapter? XD The next one will be exciting. I promise! ;3**


	12. Chapter 12

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Twelve

I stood huddled between two tents that were back-to-back. I'd seen Boris and the Tweedles pass by me, taking no notice of my presence, a few moments after I had arrived. It was unnerving. There was no telling how many of the role holders were still attending this event even if they were no longer required to stay. In my rush to get to this place, I hadn't noticed the time change halfway through my trip. The sky was painted many shades of pink and red. I chewed the inside of my cheek and thought to myself, _Red sky at night, sailors' delight…_

I was just hoping I was the sailor in this situation. I certainly didn't have the vulgarity to be one.

A shaky breath escaped my lungs. I was still trying to calm myself. I wasn't quite sure what had ruffled my normally all-business attitude. Maybe it was the thought of running in to Joker again. Could that really be it? Sure, he'd been weird the last time I was here but he hadn't directly threatened me. He'd done three things; introduced himself, squeezed my cut up hand, and let me run away. Not the actions of a villain, right?

With one more breath, I stepped out of the aisle. A thought had occurred to me right before I'd done so: What was to be worried about? There was nothing binding me to this place. I could simply walk away.

"You're really losing your touch, aren't you?" an edgy voice asked.

I cringed, _Shoot. I'm caught. I finally come out and I'm caught._ I turned around, keeping my expression casual. That is, until I saw who was standing in front of me.

"What do you want, Caitlin?" I asked, my eyes narrowed, my voice cold.

She shrugged and gave me an innocent smile, "I'm just saying, Tiff, you used to spook everyone the way you could stalk around silently and pop up behind people. You were unnoticeable. Now look at you, you're drawing attention to yourself and you can't even do your hair."

My hand went to my head unconsciously and I felt a mess of hair gathered on top of my head. I cursed at myself for not bothering to check a mirror before I left the castle. Though, the mess of tree branches I'd walked through on the way here might not have helped that.

As I opened my mouth to reply back with my own snooty attitude, I noticed Caitlin's eyes widening, her lips relaxing themselves from her forced expression. She almost looked like the Caitlin I used to hold dear. Her lips parted and she sputtered, "Tiff! Y-you have to le-!"

Whatever else she had to say was cut off by a gasp followed by a shrill scream that erupted from her lungs. I winced and covered my ears as I watched her fall to her knees, clutching at her chest as if it were about to tear itself open.

I knelt in front of Caitlin and placed my hands on her arms, trying to comfort her, trying to understand what was happening. My eyes tried to take in her panicked features as I frantically asked, "What's wrong? What can I do? What's happening?"

I stared helplessly as her scream continued. In a way it had amazed me she still hadn't taken a breath. It was just a single, ear-piercing sound that didn't waver in any way.

I felt a hand hoist me up from underneath the crook of my elbow. I shook it off and fell back to my knees. The limb returned and pulled me again, this time grabbing my other arm as well to prevent me from struggling. Refusing to take my eyes from Caitlin, I shouted, "No! No! I have to help her!"

A cool voice replied, too close to my ear, "You mustn't cause a scene, we both know you shouldn't be here."

My eyes widened and a shaky gasp escaped my lips. I shook my arms from his grasp and whirled around. I undoubtedly failed at narrowing my eyes at Joker as I stuttered, "D-don't touch me!" If I was aiming to seem like I was tough, I hadn't done a very good job.

Apparently I hadn't convinced Joker either. A pleasant expression spread across features. He said teasingly, "You aren't feeling friendly today, I take it."

I pointed at Caitlin's screaming form without turning and shouted, "I'll be plenty friendly! Just help me with that!"

Joker looked over my shoulder, his face unchanging. He took a step to the side and knelt in front of what was Caitlin just moments before. It was now a young faceless girl, crying. I stared with a look of confusion as Joker took out a card and performed a trick where he pretended it disappeared and then reappeared from the girl's ear. She immediately began giggling and clapping along with another faceless. Joker ruffled the girl's head playfully before she scampered off with her friend.

My jaw was agape. I thought aloud, trying to make sense of the situation, "But…she was right there. I'd seen her. I couldn't have been-"

"Who was there?" Joker asked, his smile unwavering. It was only then I'd noticed the hint of malice glittering in his unpatched eye, "You can't mean the other visitor here? The blonde one? Your friend?"

This time my eyes narrowed without fail. I said coldly, "You know something about this."

It wasn't a question but he answered smoothly, "I do."

"_That doesn't give an idiot the right to make a scene!_" the mask on Joker's belt added. Yes, it concerned me that the thing was talking but now wasn't the time to let my curiosity get the best of me. Both Joker and I ignored its comment. Joker outstretched a hand towards me, his expression inviting.

"Come," he said, "If we both look, I'm sure we'll find her."

I immediately frowned and turned on my heel to head towards the gate. I didn't care that much about finding her, did I? I just wanted to get out of this place. Sounding stubborn, I lied, "I'll find her myself."

As I took a step or two forward the world lurched to once side. My head told me I was floating, but I knew I wasn't. The colors of my vision faded into, first, soft pastels, and then into a grey, colorless mass. I closed my eyes and shook my head, one of my hands against it.

Joker took the opportunity to grab my free, defenseless hand. I opened my eyes in response. The world was back to normal. Reluctantly, I turned my gaze back to the ringmaster. His smile remained kind, but I couldn't force myself to ignore the vicious gleam in his eye I had noticed before. He spoke words that sounded innocent enough, but I convinced myself he was mocking me, "You aren't going to find her going that way."

"_Idiot,_" the mask spat, only furthering my suspicions. Though, overall, I had ignored it, again.

Joker began pulling me in the direction away from the exit and I tried to ignore my screaming instincts. This had bad idea written all over it. Neither of us said anything. I glared at the back of the ringmaster's head, not searching for Caitlin at all. I didn't know what his face looked like but I hoped it wasn't still plastered as that annoying smile.

We came to an intersection-type area between the tents. I turned to head down the aisle that would take me to the exit but was stopped by Joker. He stood his ground, smiling down at me like I was a foolish child who was going to get myself lost. My expression was a mixture of annoyance and dislike. He pulled me into an open tent populated with only a table and two chairs. Once inside he told me to take a seat. He let the tent's door fall shut. My heart sank.

_This has bad idea written all over it,_ I repeated in my head. It was the only thing I could think as I sat at the table. I stared at the ringmaster across from me. My back was to the door. Normally I liked knowing what was behind me at all times but here I made an exception. If I needed to run, I would sprint out of here and not have to push passed Joker. A struggle between a teenage girl and a grown man never ended well, for the girl at least.

Somehow in the silence, my voice had transformed into ice, void of emotion. I said, "We aren't going to find her in here."

Joker simply smiled, taking out a small rectangular box I recognized almost immediately, "I thought we could pass the time playing _cards._"

I didn't like the way he said it. It sounded twisted and wrong, like something obscene, something I shouldn't be doing and shouldn't want to have anything to do with.

My voice remained cold, "I don't _need_ to play cards. I _need_ to find Caitlin."

Joker chuckled. I'm sure if I had not been told such rotten things about Joker, I would have been scared out of my mind. But he couldn't intimidate me, not now. My priorities were already sorted: Find Caitlin, find out what's wrong with her, and get the Hell out of here. I could worry about Joker once I was with someone who hated him and had trigger happy tendencies. Right now, I was fending for myself. Words and a clear head were the best weapons I had.

Aside from his short lived laughter, Joker hadn't said anything else for a few minutes. He had been too busy shuffling his cards. He made bridges and did other things I didn't have names for. Maybe if I had been the little girl from earlier, it would have cheered me up.

He smiled warmly at me, clearly satisfied at his joke of shuffling. I tried to find the malice in his expression as if it were a game as he asked, "What games do you know?"

"Not many," I replied honestly. It surprised me how quickly I'd answered him. Maybe my impatience with him was revealing itself without my consent. I should probably have cared more than I did.

The ringmaster didn't speak for a few moments more, suddenly interested in shuffling again. I sighed and rested my hand on my palm.

"You seem bored," he said with amusement. His constant smiling act was beginning to remind me of a certain scatterbrained knight. Joker's smile contorted as if he knew a secret I should, "Let's make this more interesting."

The statement didn't intrigue me much, but it did make my mind scream at me to run out of there as fast as I could and never come back. I closed my eyes and tried to focus. As far as I was concerned, Joker knew what was wrong with Caitlin and I was the only one he was going to let in on the information.

I asked flatly, "Interesting how?" Maybe if I pretended I still wasn't interested he'd slip me enough insight that I could leave without selling my soul to the Devil or worse.

"If I win, you'll have to stay here for a time period, but if you win," I was half-expecting him to offer me something pointless that I'd just have to have, like one of those impulse buys they line up by the registers of a department store. To my surprise, he said, "you can have something of yours that you'd lost since you've been in Wonderland."

"Lost?" I repeated to myself. I was suddenly sitting up straight, my hands pressing against themselves as I thought. I'd lost Caitlin a few moments ago, but was he speaking of her? Technically I'd never lost her before I entered Wonderland. What could he have? The destroyed clothes I first wore here? That wasn't very tempting. At last I replied to him, "I don't think I've lost anything."

In an instant, the redhead's malicious glimmer was back. This time it spread its way across all of his features. He smirked as he dug through one of his pockets. I almost stood up to get a better look at what he was trying to find but I managed to control myself. A blue vial was held in his hands as he almost laughed, "I beg to differ."

"That!" I shouted in surprise. Without thinking, I stood and stretched my arm across the table to grab the vial. Joker pulled it away out of my reach. I frowned.

"Were you listening?" he asked, sounding exasperated, "You have to beat me if you want it back."

"I know!" I said childishly, "I just want to see it!"

Joker sighed, "Fine."

He placed the vial lightly into my still outstretched hands. I pulled the vial close to my face and examined it. It definitely wasn't this full the last time I looked at it. It seemed to only need a drop or two before it was filled. Then I could go…home. I furrowed my brow and placed the vial on the table. My head hung in defeat. There was no home for me. I'd promised not to leave this place. I couldn't break that promise. The people here needed me. I'd make more of a difference here than I ever could in the other world.

"No escape attempt?" Joker asked, sounding amused, "You aren't going to grab the vial and run to your friends?"

I shook my head and looked up, my face empty. My tone matched it, "I don't need that."

The ringmaster's smile almost made my temper flare. Almost. It was his next statement that set me off: "You can't leave unless you play a game with me. It's a visitor's tradition. Alice did it and now you will. I let you slide last time."

Without thinking, I spat, "Fine! I'll play the stupid game for the stupid vial! Just stop treating me like I'm an idiot!"

After a quick explanation, Joker had taught me how to place Blackjack. It would only take a few seconds for a round and then I could go as I pleased, if I won that is. The first round wasn't all that great for me. A pile of low numbers found their way to my hand until a ten landed on the pile after I'd managed to get my count up to fifteen.

The mask's voice was almost deafening against my frustrated silence. It shouted through the tent, "_One time period._"

"I lost," I said flatly, afterwards, glaring at the mask. My voice sounded a lot more injured than I felt.

Joker shrugged calmly, "It's just one loss. Games of chance play out that way."

The worst part was, at this point, I believed the Joker. It was just a game. No harm in that, even with the stakes we had set. I added to myself, _I can always avoid the Joker for as many time periods as I ended up losing. _I wish I believed the thought as much as I would have liked. He smiled cheerfully throughout the next round. I felt myself sweating.

"_Two,_" the mask laughed.

A few more rounds passed by. Each was followed by with the same amused voice. I was glad Joker had kept his mouth shut. I would have punched him if he rubbed any of these losses in my face.

"_Three, four, five._"

I swallowed hard. Two cards were laid face down in front of me. I picked them up nervously as a sigh of relief consumed my features. I placed them with their faces up, smiling at Joker and wiping my damp forehead, "Blackjack."

For less than a moment, a look of something dark slid across Joker's features. It was gone after I blinked, a pleasant expression replacing it. He shrugged again, "You've won fairly. Here you go."

He fished the vial from his pocket again and handed it to me. I pocketed it happily.

"What will we do first, then?" he asked.

It was then I realized the ringmaster hadn't been kidding when he said he'd confine me here for several time periods. I stood up nervously and stuttered, "I-I should probably tell one of the other role holders that I'm going to be here for a little while. W-wouldn't want to worry anyone, right?"

The jester walked around the edge of the table and reached for my arm. I took a step just far enough back.

"No," I said without thinking. So much for not being scared.

I sprinted for the door before I could see so much as a change in his features, the fear taking over in my head. On pure adrenaline alone, I sprinted through the carnival. By this time, I had completely forgotten where the exit was. Turn after turn after turn it felt like I was moving in a circle. The same colors whizzed by. The same faceless people stared at me as I moved. My breathing no longer able to hold a proper pattern, I collapsed at the edge of one of the aisles.

_Maybe I should hide in between the tents again, at least until I can focus again. Or I could-_

I was wrenched away from my thoughts by a hand on my shoulder. I practically shrieked at the touch. It was then my eyes registered what was in front of me. A little girl stood in front of me with a smile wide on her face. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was the same girl who had been crying earlier. She said sweetly, "Are you sad, lady?"

I swallowed back the burning in my throat. It tasted of more than exhaustion. It tasted of threatening tears as well. I lied, "I'm fine."

The girl frowned and picked up my hand, "You don't look fine."

My voice failed. I tried to speak but tears filled in my eyes instead.

"Hey! Hey! Don't be sad!" the girl said loudly. An encouraging smile spread across her face, "I'll show you some place fun!"

She pulled me forward and I reluctantly stood up. At least Joker hadn't said I needed to spend time with him. I could make friends with a little circus girl instead. She pulled me passed the many aisles and told me to close my eyes. I didn't listen. I could hardly see through the tears in my eyes anyway. We ignored enough aisles that I was about to ask her to simply tell me where we were going. We finally entered one. The colors were duller here, almost greys. The girl released my hand as I took in my surroundings.

"It's so sad," I winced. Toys left discarded and abandoned for who knows how long were left across the alleyway. I walked to a torn up teddy bear and picked it up, hugging it to my chest. Toys were supposed to be cherished forever but even I knew that wasn't what happened to them. Children could love them for a time, yes, but inevitably, they'd always grow and change enough that they'd eventually forget their precious belongings.

I looked over my shoulder for the little girl to ask her if this was the place she was talking about, but she was gone. I stared at the teddy bear once more, wishing I could make its sad face happier.

A repeating, echoing tap wrenched my attention away from the bear. Joker smiled at me from twenty or so feet away. He was still walking towards me as he said, "You are such a handful. Did you know that?"

I stared at him blankly, my grip on the bear loosening.

"An entire realm filled with subordinates and still it takes forever to get you where you need to be."

"Where I need to be?" I repeated, confused enough that my head was starting to hurt.

"_She really is stupid,_" the mask said.

I glared at it, "Would you tell your little thing that it needs to-" I stopped talking, trying to see clearly. The world shifted once more and the colors swirled. I closed my eyes and put both hands to my head. When I finally felt like I wasn't going to pass out, I reopened my eyes…just in time to see a cell door sliding into place before me.

I stared in front of me, my eyes wide with a mix of feelings: shock, confusion, fear. Two Jokers stood just outside of my cell. One was in the circus attire I was so used to, the other in what could only be described as a guard uniform. Sure, it looked more military-like than what I was used to thinking a prison guard would wear, but that was the only thing this place could be.

"Two of you?" I asked, trying to comprehend what was happening. I approached the door of the cell, wrapping my hands around the bars. I noted that my hands were small enough to fit through the holes between them with ease.

The Joker in the guard uniform sneered and looked from his look-a-like to me. He repeated, "You really are stupid. And a whore too."

I felt embarrassment flood to my face at the name calling and shoved my fist into the guard's face. My hand screamed in pain, as I recoiled and forced myself back into the corner of my cell. Guard-Joker hissed in pain and took a single step back; covering his face where I'd struck him. I forced myself to act way tougher than I actually was by forcing a smirk on my face.

"You stupid whore! You'll pay for that!" he growled. He uncovered his face now and glared at me over a bruised nose, "You're going to be here for a long fucking time."

"Calm down. She can't do much harm," Circus-Joker laughed lightly. He touched the more vulgar version of himself on the shoulder, distracting him from pulling a whip off of his belt.

"Little slut," Guard-Joker coughed another insult.

"You should get yourself a therapist," I said through my forced smirk. If this is where I was going to be stuck for five time periods, I was going to make my hosts as happy as I was.

A familiar laughter burst out from next to me. I looked to the prisoner in the cell next to mine to lay my eyes on no one other than Caitlin. Circus-Joker laughed again before giving a playful wave to myself and the blonde, "Have fun you two."

I looked away from Caitlin to the remaining Joker, narrowing my eyes. These next time slots were going to suck. At least I'd figured out which sailor the sunset was made for.

**A/N: Well…it took me MUCH longer than I thought it would to rewrite this chapter. After a week-long power outage, I had enough down time to rethink this chapter, elaborate on it and make it worth reading. I hope you like it!**


	13. Chapter 13

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Thirteen

It seemed like the time passed slowly. Caitlin talked nonstop about the past and present: why she dated Jonathon, what people were thinking about my absence, and how miserable she was in the cell. It felt a bit strange to know that she'd already broken up with him. Though, the reason "I only said yes because I'm a desperate slut" still didn't convince me that she was the awesome person I thought she was.

My other company was even less comforting. Any time the jackass version of Joker walked by; he smacked the bars of her cell and told her to shut up, with added curse words of course. I cringed every time he did it. Not because I was afraid of him, but because the sound was so harsh that I couldn't help myself. Caitlin, on the other hand, didn't take it as a sign to do what he said, but rather to shout back at him, making equally vulgar remarks.

As for me, I doodled in the dirt on the floor, not interested in any of their idiotic banter. It wasn't much of a fight either; Caitlin would always lose whether she got the last word in or not. From the sound of it, there were other prisoners here too. Though I hadn't seen any of them, I assumed Joker wasn't yelling at the air. Of course, the shouting concerned me a lot less than the sound of that whip he carried with him.

Regardless of the number of observations I made, time didn't seem to be passing any faster. The hours ticked by, though how many was unknown by me. I imagined at least two time periods had to have passed, but there were no windows. That's pretty convenient for the Jokers when I couldn't even keep track of my timed stay here. The constant observations I made were rapidly cascading into recognition and eventually boredom. Everything had begun to resemble a pattern. If I was trapped here any longer, I would definitely be able to count _exactly_ how long it took Joker to make it all the way back to my cell. As it was, I was pretty good with estimating the amount of time I had in between his visits.

"Hey, Tiff!" Caitlin practically shouted in my ear.

I shot upright, not expecting her to stray from the usual whispers she had aiming at me. Before I responded to her, I glanced down the aisle, checking for any signs that the Joker was on his way to us. He would be passing by in a minute or two unless he stopped for a very long, antagonizing session. When I'd decided it was safe enough, I made eye contact with Caitlin, hoping she would get what I meant.

There was no doubt that she did. She sent a sarcastic smile back to me, "Remember all the crazy adventures we used to have back home?"

Blankly, I shifted my gaze back to the floor. Sure, they had been fun at the time, but we had been playing pretend. No matter how often we delved into our imaginations, none of it was true. Thinking about it from that perspective, we never really had anything in common. Our entire friendship had been as much of a lie as the lives we wished we'd been living.

The girl sighed and muttered, "I'm trying to make this less painful for the both of us. It's a little difficult when you're just-"

Joker's voice rang out from down the aisle. He was clearly taking out whatever issues he had with his life on another assumingly innocent prisoner. I leaned against the bars and spotted his shadow. He definitely wasn't that far away.

Caitlin didn't take the hint as well as I did. She restarted the sentence she'd been working on before she was interrupted, "It's difficult when you're sitting there and won't even pay attention to me."

I looked up at her from under my blunt bangs. Since I didn't want the Joker to hear me, I whispered quickly, "Well what do you want me to do? From what you've told me, there isn't much that's gone on with you that's worth starting a conversation."

She frowned and let out a quiet sigh, "Will you at least let me apologize for being such a dumb bitch?"

I answered her with silence. It wasn't my place to tell her she needed to apologize. That was all her decision. In a way, I'd already forgiven her. I mean, I couldn't dwell on everything that had happened in a world I wouldn't even go back to, right?

Caitlin groaned. Clearly, she had been expecting some sort of response from me. She whined, "C'mon! Just tell me you want an apology or insult me or—"

A sharp clack echoed from the bar of Caitlin's cell. We both jumped and she let out a girlish shriek of surprise (though it really should have been expected).

Joker, though he wasn't involved in our conversation, decided to reply to the latter of her demands, listing off curses to describe how annoyed he was with her constant talking. He finished his monologue with a _very_ mature, "Shut the Hell up!"

"Why don't you make me, asshole?" Caitlin growled back, turning so that she could glare at him through the bars.

The warden smirked back at her. As he walked away, I could have sworn I heard him mutter to himself, "Next time."

A silence settled between Caitlin and I for a few beats, at least until Joker's footsteps were barely audible against the concrete floor. Once the sound was gone, she sighed heavily and sat with her back resting against the bars of her cell. What followed was a series of clipped sentences, "Fine. Don't talk to me. Anyway, I'm sorry for being an idiot. I shouldn't have gone out with Jon. I shouldn't have been a jerk to you."

In a way, it didn't make sense to me that she was apologizing. Maybe she was doing it to make herself feel better. I mean, I guess I had already forgiven her. I couldn't dwell on the problems of a world that I would no longer have to deal with. If I had been doing that this whole time, I wouldn't have met so many new people. These people here wouldn't mean anything to me if I had acted that way.

I nodded and began running my hand through the dirt again. She'd said what she'd wanted to. Hopefully now I could go back to minding my own business and waiting out this torture.

_Looks like I was wrong_, I thought to myself as Caitlin opened her mouth once more.

"Why the Hell did you even come down here anyway? Last time I checked, chasing after guys wasn't your thing," she rambled. Though, from the expression on her face, it looked like it was taking her a lot of effort to piece the sentences together. Perhaps, I was letting my irritation get to me.

"My mom made me mad so I went outside and I chased a rabbit that ended up being a man," I sighed, running my hand through my hair. Did this really even matter? I'd come here what felt like weeks ago and—"Hold on. What do you mean 'chasing after guys?' What did you follow down the rabbit hole?"

"One of the Joker guys, but not this one. It was the weird clown one," Caitlin blinked at me. She seemed confused that what I had encountered was the problem here.

I raised my eyebrows at her. It was an expression I often made when I wanted to know more about what was on her mind, but didn't necessarily have to say anything to make her talk more.

"Well, your mum started freaking out, right? So my mum and I drove over since nobody in the area knew much about you. My mum suggested we check the crawlspaces in the house because there were so many and she thought you might be stuck in one and we couldn't hear you or whatever. Anyway, I went outside since you're afraid of the dark—" I ignored the heat the crept into my cheeks here "—and it would be stupid to check there.

So I went outside and there was a weird guy standing in the middle of your yard. I went up to him and asked about you and he started getting all touchy when I said I would get your mom since he had an idea. I don't really remember what happened after that. I don't remember much at all actually, just being in this cell," Caitlin took a deep breath after all was said and done. She was still a tad too melodramatic for my taste.

I furrowed my brow. I'd run into her multiple times. There was no possible way she'd been stuck in a cell this entire time. I whispered, "Are you absolutely sure you'd been here all of this time?"

Caitlin bit her lip in response, thinking long and hard, "I remember a voice."

"A voice?" I interrupted too quickly. She'd just finished spewing her life story and Joker's voice was within range again. Though I doubted she noticed, the least she could do was give me the important details we both needed right now.

She continued anyway, "Yeah. A voice. It sounds a lot like the Jokers' now that I think about it."

"Well what was it telling you to do?" I asked impatiently. She was wasting too much time. We were on a tight schedule here!

Caitlin quieted to think, "Weird stuff. I remember flirting with a weird cat guy and I think I was at a circus or something. I don't know, though."

I hissed over her when I realized that that was the most she was going to know. One other question was still pressing on my mind, "Did you have to drink anything when you came down here?"

Her blank expression wasn't reassuring.

I fumbled with the vial in my pocket and pulled it out, "It would have looked like this. Anything?"

She gasped, "Yeah! I had one of those. That guy made me drink it right before I-"

What she had wanted to say had been cut short. The loud bang had made me shove the vial back into my pocket, but I hadn't quite registered what had happened. This time, the Joker had done more than just terrorize Caitlin by banging on her cell. His boot had forced its way between the two bars and into the base of Caitlin's head. She fell to the floor with an empty stare as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. My face was consumed with horror as my gaze shifted to the sadistic smirk on the warden's face. The man slid his hand to his belt and took the ring of keys. Why was he unlocking her cell?

"What are you doing?" I interjected as I scrambled to the bars splitting Caitlin's prison and mine. Internally I smacked myself; the concern in my voice would have been obvious to anyone.

The disturbed grin only widened as he entered the cell, "Getting rid of the dead weight."

"D-don't touch her!" I shouted shakily.

"I won't," Joker mused. He passed the keys to his recessive hand while the other settled upon a pistol on his belt. He sent me one last twisted glance as he pointed it to Caitlin's motionless body.

Without thinking, I bent down and pulled my shoe off. One instant it was in my hand and the next, it was flying through the bars of my cell and right into the Joker's head.

He recoiled, discarding the keys and firing a bullet into the wall above Caitlin. Thank God. Unfortunately, it became blatantly obvious that I had simply redirected his anger. He turned to glower at me with hate in his eyes, "Would you rather I blow your head off, instead?"

If the Joker couldn't hear my heartbeat right now, I would have been honestly surprised. I sputtered, "B-but you can't, r-right? I-I'm a guest here and the other J-Joker would b-be pissed and the other r-role holders—"

The warden burst into laughter. It was an eerie sound that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. His grin returned. Clearly my shoe hadn't been nearly as effective as my instincts thought it would be. The Joker didn't even try to filter his condescending tone, "Do you really think those fuck-ups would care where you went? There's another visitor right here that's been begging for their attention."

My mind began racing in circles. So he could only kill one of us, right? This meant he was planning on distracting the others with Caitlin if I died, but what did he mean by-? I gasped and narrowed my eyes at the warden, "It's been you this whole time. You've been the one who has been making Caitlin act this way. You're the reason she's here!"

Joker laughed again, and a third time when he noticed that I was cringing. He chortled, "You're a fucking idiot. Did you really expect we would let another visitor fall into the hands of Dupre or any of the others? Your disappearance made everything so easy and your best friend showing up, well, that was just pure luck."

"What did you do to her?" I shouted back at him. He was wearing away what was left of my fear and patience.

"Exactly what those bastards did to Alice," the warden sneered.

I glared at him the best I could and tried to keep my expression the same as suddenly everything clicked in my head. The Jokers were in the process of making Caitlin a part of this world weren't they? Even worse, they were forcing her to behave the way they wanted her to. And worst of all, they were finding some way to replace her heart with a clock.

"It won't be long until I have my own nuisance to keep the role holders busy with until next April season," Joker thought to himself. It seemed that while I was deep in thought, he had been too. Unlike me, he'd been having a typical internal monologue that became so intense he couldn't help but share it with me.

"I won't let you do anything else to her," I said through gritted teeth.

"But she's told me all about how much she's hurt you and how you'll never forgive her. Why don't you help me out with this instead?" Joker said, offering his gun to me through the bars.

Right about now, I wished I didn't have so many strong morals. It would have been so easy to swipe it from his hands and shoot him in the head…but I didn't have the guts for it even in my own mind.

"I'm not doing anything for you!" I shouted as I shook my head rapidly back and forth. Maybe I had yelled too loudly in comparison to the tone he had been using all of this time. I wasn't quite sure. After all, the sound of my own pulse was far too loud in my ears anyway.

The amusement from Joker's face faded. If I didn't know any better, I would think that he was expecting me to beg for Caitlin's life and then he would have two puppets. The cryptic ideals set in my head weren't keeping me any calmer on the outside. I hadn't even realized I had begun breathing rapidly in my panic. I was helpless as the warden pulled his pistol back to his side of the cell and pointed the gun back at Caitlin's head.

This couldn't be happening. This was all a dream, a lie, a game, anything other than the reality I was refusing to accept. My eyes rapidly scanned the adjacent cells, searching for a way out, anything that could prolong these events. One spot on the floor stood out to me, a wide mark where the dirt of the cell had been pushed aside. The trail led from where Joker's keys had been discarded to Caitlin's limp body.

My knees buckled under me and suddenly I was blinded by tears. Caitlin was conscious. She had moved the keys sometime within the last few minutes. She knew I wasn't going to save her. She knew what was going to happen to her.

"I'm so sorry. Please, don't do this!" I pleaded through my tears.

The warden didn't even look at me. He was done with my stupidity and indecision.

"Please," I choked out, "I'll do-"

My voice was cut off by an ear shattering bang. It echoed up and down the aisle of cells and was followed by the sound of a wet splatter.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Before the chapter starts, I just want to thank everyone who has either been here from the beginning or is a new reader now. Without the feedback you have given me, I probably wouldn't be able to get as far through this as I have.**

**So you know, I'm going back and revamping the older chapters a bit so that they improved. I hope none of you mind it too much. I wasn't to be changing any aspects of the plot. :3**

**Thank you guys! 3**

_Return to the Rabbit Hole_

Chapter Fourteen

Even with all of my efforts, my eyes slid back to what was in front of me. I needed to know how bad Caitlin was. It didn't matter how terrible the sight was. I needed to accept what had happened and I needed to hope that she would be okay.

Her body lay untouched. She had curled herself into a ball on the floor. I'm assuming it was the best defense she could think of from the gun, though it wasn't much of a threat anymore. It was lying uselessly on the floor next to her.

I blinked with cluelessness and thought to myself, _But if Caitlin isn't the one who got shot, then…_

"I've warned you about this many times, Joker," a cold voice stated. The words were drowning in the hatred they held and I knew they belonged to no one who had been in the cells with us.

I wrenched my eyes away from the heap that was lying in front of me to the speaker of that foreign voice. Just outside of the cell, Blood stood with his weapon drawn. Unlike the majority of other guns I had seen in Wonderland, it appeared that he had made an effort to make sure his was oversized in comparison.

Joker leaned against the wall, glaring at the hatter and baring his teeth. He was clutching his upper arm. Between his fingers oozed the crimson liquid I had been dreading to see. I wish I hadn't freaked out so much now that I realized nobody's head had exploded.

The warden laughed humorlessly at the Mafioso, "You seem to keep forgetting that you can't kill me in my own realm."

Blood returned the sentiment with an icy glare. I knew if I was the target of the expression, I wouldn't have been able to sit still, let alone target my inner smart ass.

"You aren't going to chat with me this time, either?" Joker sneered. I had to give him credit for being able to keep up this act even after being shot. I only wish I had the guts to speak up right about now.

I sent a panicked glance at Blood. Why wasn't he doing anything? I mean, I'm not one for gun violence, but since everyone here is so trigger-happy, I assumed Joker would look like Swiss cheese by now.

My attention shifted back to the warden. He bent down and picked up his gun while he continued his one-sided conversation, "I guess we'll just have to find some other way to resolve this."

He staggered out of the cell and towards Blood, that signature smirk on his face, "You aren't going to kill me, are you? Alice won't let you."

I heard Blood's gloves make a sound; his grip on the gun was tightening. What Joker was saying must have been true.

Again, he laughed and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. He gestured at Blood with the barrel of his pistol, "Unlike the rest of you, I don't care what that little bitch says."

Blood's stance shifted slightly and a scene began playing in slow motion before me. The Mafioso's grip on his weapon shifted and within half of a second, the butt of the gun made contact with Joker's face. The warden staggered back and wiped his bleeding mouth with the back of his hand. He didn't look discouraged, though. If anything, he looked as if he were even more amused by this situation.

He aimed his gun at Blood (it was still in his right hand, so the initial injury much have only been a flesh wound), and pulled the trigger without a second thought. Blood stepped out of the line of fire as well as took a step backwards. He made eye contact with me for the slightest of moments and I was pretty sure I knew what he was trying to say.

His focus went back to Joker and a cynical grin consumed his features, "I've killed you more than three times, Joker. It's only fair I give you a chance to settle the score. After all, it would certainly lead Alice back to you."

Blood turned on his heel and dashed down the aisle of cells, only securing what I thought it had been trying to tell me: _If I die here, so will you_.

Joker took the bait and dropped a handful of profanities before he took off after him. His voice rang out and echoed around the corridor, "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Hatter? Neither of you will get out this way."

Their footfalls echoed away, but the sound of shots being fired continued to tear through the halls. I scrambled closer to the adjacent cell and whispered, "Caitlin, we need to get out of here. Can you hear me?"

The heap on the floor groaned in response. She untangled herself and slowly sat up. It was good to know that she really wasn't bleeding anywhere. She'd been shot at twice today. That fact alone could have explained the almost blank expression on her face. I can imagine her head was aching from the blow she'd taken earlier. Next to her being safer than I had expected, the second most important detail was that her hands were clutching the ring of keys.

"I need the keys," I murmured. I stuck my hand through the bars and hoped she was conscious enough to respond to me.

Almost mechanically, her arm outstretched and she dropped keys into my hand. I took them and quickly stood up. I fumbled with the keys, and began trying each of them within the lock on my cell. I rambled to Caitlin as I went about it, hoping it would calm my nerves, "Your door is still open. I'm pretty sure Joker forgot you were there. I give you props for being so quiet that whole time. I hope your head isn't hurting too badly. Hopefully, when we get out of-"

After half of a dozen keys, the lock clicked and with a pull, the door of my cell swung open. I couldn't help but grin as I shut it behind me. This terrible situation was finally looking brighter. It was like a miracle.

I stepped outside of my cage and turned to Caitlin, "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

The girl's expression had shifted slightly, but it wasn't a good sign. Her eyes were wide and staring in my direction. Her body looked as though it had stiffened, as well.

I raised an eyebrow at her and idly fidgeted with the keys in my hand, wondering what was going through her head. I took a step towards her cell and said quickly, "What are you doing? We need to g-"

My voice cut off and I shrieked as two arms wrapped around the upper half of my body. I dropped the keys without noticing and flailed my legs, trying my hardest to get free. But dammit, I couldn't even touch the ground now that I had been struggling. I continued squirming, but I knew that right about now I was screwed.

"You can't leave yet," the captor's voice said quietly in my ear, "It's only been three time periods."

My fear temporarily became rage. I seethed, "I don't care about your stupid games anymore Joker!"

Within a moment, my heart sank. If he was here, then that must mean that Blood was already…No! I couldn't think about that right now! I didn't have time. I needed to get Caitlin, Blood and myself out of here. There had to be some way to go about it. I mean, Alice had managed it before.

Though I had just made it blatantly obvious I wasn't going to give in to his demands, he placed me back on my feet and released me anyway. I gave myself credit; I was still able to stand even though my knees were quaking. Clearly, he was sure he was in control of this situation. I whirled around to face him, not wanting my back to be turned to someone who I couldn't trust.

My breath got caught in my throat. He wasn't the warden; he was the ringmaster.

"Were you expecting someone else?" he asked with amusement.

"Shut it," I spat. The step back I took while I spoke certainly worked against me.

Joker took a step forward and I practically leapt backwards. I wouldn't let him touch me. I was going to get out of here. I was going to get all of us out of here.

At least, that's what I thought until the ringmaster bent down and picked up the discarded ring of keys and pocketed them. My mind began racing. Caitlin still hadn't moved. There was no way I was going to be able to get her out of that cell without getting locked in myself, but I couldn't let him close her cell either. There was only one stance I would be able to take, defense. I turned slightly and stood in front of Caitlin's cell. He wasn't going to get passed me.

Joker's eyebrows rose. He didn't mask the surprise, not even in his voice, "You aren't going to run."

I shook my head. It wasn't a question, but it might as well have been. Well, if I'd been planning to get around him, it was all for naught now.

The ringmaster grinned happily to himself, "I see. This is because I have your friend, isn't it? You can't bear to see her stuck here," he scoffed and shook his head, "You're not so different from everyone's dear Alice."

My head fell as I felt a pang in my chest. Parts of what he said were true, even if I'd spent a good amount of time explaining to all of the role holders that I wasn't Alice. I said quietly, "You're right."

Joker's grin got wider.

Admitting what was wrong with me was exactly what I needed to make it through this plateau of emotions I had been dealing with lately. I picked my strength back up and took a deep breath, "I can't stand seeing my friend stuck in here even after you made her do all of those things, but it isn't because I can't live without her. She'd already hurt me before you took her here and that's where you screwed up."

His grin faltered and I felt courage welling up inside of me. I knew I had Caitlin's support even if she wasn't saying anything.

"Nothing you had her do to me here could rub salt in that wound. Yeah, it made new ones, but I know the truth now. I'm not mad at her—in fact, I've forgiven her-but I'm sure as hell pissed at you. I'm going to get my friend out of here and I won't visit you or your stupid carnival ever again," I practically shouted as my adrenaline began pumping. I was going to fight my way out of here with or without a gun.

My attention shifted for half of a second as I noticed a sudden weight in my pocket. I temporarily forgot Joker's presence and stuck my hand inside of my pocket. A sudden forced made contact with my shoulder. I stumbled backwards with the momentum and a wall of bars slammed before I could regain my balance. I landed on my butt next to Caitlin before I registered what had happened.

My mind screamed, _No! No! No! No! This isn't happening! _I couldn't be locked up again. I said I wouldn't let it end this way and now Joker had the keys. _W-what the hell am I supposed to do?_

My chest seemed to collapse on itself as my breathing tried to run out of control. I couldn't have a panic attack at a time like this. I needed to think, do something.

"That was a nice speech. It's too bad you wasted it," Joker laughed coldly. He definitely wasn't amused with the tough guy act I had put up, but he certainly was now.

I turned my back to Joker so that he couldn't see what I was doing. Hopefully he would assume I was crying and leave me alone. I took my hand out of my pocket. In it was that familiar vial. Now, it looked just like it had when I first saw it, full to the brim with that mysterious liquid. I could go back. If I really needed to get out of here I could go back.

I knew there was no way to get out of this cell without the vial, but I couldn't let Caitlin stay here alone. She had to go home. She needed to tell everyone what had happened. I knew I wouldn't be able to see them again, but that would be okay.

Something in me clicked and I knew that this decision had very little to do with me choosing who should go back to Earth. This was about me keeping Caitlin safe.

While Joker and I had been arguing, Caitlin had pushed herself into the furthest corner of the cell. I crawled towards her with the vial in my hand.

I mumbled, "Caitlin, Caitlin, look at me."

She was too busy staring at the floor. I looked over my shoulder at Joker. He was leaning against the cell across the hall, smiling smugly to himself. I still don't think he'd seen the vial. I turned back to Caitlin and cupped her cheeks in my hands, forcing her to look at me.

"I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" I whispered.

She nodded weakly; though it was clear she had no hope at all.

I released her and held the vial in front of her, "This will send you home if you drink it. Please, I need you to take it. Tell everyone I'm okay and that I'm not hurt and I'm happy, alright?"

Tears welled up in her eyes and I felt that pressure on my chest again.

In a broken voice she asked, "Aren't you coming too?"

I shook my head and smiled as identical tears began stinging my eyes, "I can't go back-"

"Then you drink it. You go back," Caitlin sobbed. The tears had begun flooding from her eyes.

I wiped mine away, "I can't. I've promised a lot of people I'll stay. They need me here. I know everyone up there can make it without me, especially if they have you."

I put the vial in her hands. She tried to drop it and I held her hands in mine, "Please, you have to do this."

Her lip quivered and she choked out, "But if you do this you can't go home!"

I smiled again and flicked her nose, "You're an idiot. Wonderland is my home now."

A sickening crack echoed across the prison. I turned around, wondering what the Hell Joker was doing. He practically jumped for the cell and pulled the keys back out of his pocket. He sounded anxious as he practically shouted, "What are you doing?"

I somehow had him beat now, didn't I?

"Hurry," I mouthed to Caitlin. With a smug grin of my own, I stood up and faced the ringmaster, "I'm saving my friend. Got a problem with it?"

Joker laughed again, sounding panicky, "If you do this, you can't ever go home! All of those memories will be gone, your friends, your family, everything!"

I heard the top of the vial pop off. My eyes closed as I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Caitlin was going to get out of here and get to safety. That was the most important thing right now.

My eyes fluttered open to the sound of the creaking cell door. Joker looked too pale to function.

"Doesn't the mean anything to you?" he blabbered.

"Of course it does," I furrowed my brow, not understanding why he was so focused on me being stuck here, rather than Caitlin leaving, "but I'll be able to keep them in my heart."

There was another loud crack that seemed to contort all of the sounds within the prison for a few moments. This time, I noticed a fissure climb its way up a wall dividing two cells across the hallway. Numerous shots rang out from somewhere else in the prison. I hoped Blood was okay. It could really only be him and the other Joker causing all of this wreckage.

"Won't you miss them? Won't you miss your home, your family?" the ringmaster shouted, sounding on the brink of insanity.

"Maybe I will for a little while, but my home is here now in Wonderland. The people here are going to be my family," as I said it, I felt warmth in my heart. I knew what I was saying was true. I meant every word of it.

The crack of the wall climbed even higher as the sound of it continued all around me. I glanced at the floor and sure enough, it was splitting between Joker and me as well. The ringmaster whirled around, watching in horror as the fissures climbed in every direction. My own fear began to take over. What the Hell was happening? The entire prison was falling apart.

Arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind and I almost immediately calmed down. Caitlin's voice spoke softly in my ear, "I'm really going to miss you. Don't do anything too stupid."

I laughed, "I'll try not to. You don't do anything stupid either. Give everyone the best of luck from me."

"Bye," she whispered.

Suddenly, I couldn't feel her arms around me anymore. I turned around and it was like Caitlin had never existed.

"Goodbye," I said in a normal tone. I didn't trust myself whispering since my throat felt as though it were closing up. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to say goodbye, but I certainly didn't regret it.

Joker laughed out of the blue, "Don't you realize what you've just done? You've got yourself stuck here, stuck in this cell, forever."

I turned to him. He looked disheveled, almost as though he were falling apart with this building.

"It'll only be two time periods at most. You said it yourself: I have to stay with you for five time periods. I'm not worried. Caitlin is safe," I had the slightest of smiles up until that point. Then, I grinned sarcastically, "And Blood's probably kicking the crap out of the warden."

"He won't win. He'll die here. He's won't kill Joker. He's too busy obeying Alice," Joker spewed. Every sentence was choppier than the last. As he spoke, I couldn't help but watch as the walls around him continued cracking, the bars of the cell turned rusty orange.

"You don't even sound like you believe that," I said honestly, the smile faded from my face. It wasn't nice to stress him out more than he already was.

Joker charged towards me. I stumbled away, but ended up backing into the wall, trapping myself. He grabbed me by my shoulders, and pleaded, "He'll abandon you! You'll have to stay here! You'll come back! Alice will too!"

"M-maybe," I stuttered, nervous about how close he was to me, "but someone will always come for me and Blood will always come for Alice."

The crumbling of the prison was more evident than ever. Small cracks broke away from the already huge fissures along the walls. I gasped as the breaks began digging their way into Joker's skin. From behind me, the wall caved, leaving the ringmaster standing empty handed and alone in the cell as gravity pulled me away. Everything around me became black and I seemed to be falling into Wonderland all over again.


End file.
